{"id":385963,"date":"2026-01-02T02:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T02:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385963\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T02:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T02:52:08","slug":"australias-usman-khawaja-to-retire-after-ashes-finale-slams-racial-stereotyping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385963\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Usman Khawaja to retire after Ashes finale, slams \u2018racial stereotyping\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Usman Khawaja will retire from international cricket after the fifth and final Ashes clash against England, he said on Friday, leaving a legacy as Australia\u2019s first Muslim Test cricketer while lashing out at perceived \u201cracial stereotyping\u201d during his 15-year career.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The 39-year-old will pad up for the last time, should he be selected, when the Test gets under way in Sydney on Sunday, ending months of speculation about his future.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It would be an 88th Test for the classy left-hander, culminating a career where it began after making his debut at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2011, also against England.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe number one emotion is contentment. I\u2019m very lucky to have played so many games for Australia the way I have,\u201d Khawaja said. \u201cI hope I have inspired people along the way.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI\u2019m a proud Muslim coloured boy from Pakistan who was told that he would never play for the Australian cricket team. Look at me now, and you can do the same,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Usman Khawaja leaves the field after being dismissed by England\u2019s Gus Atkinson in the fourth Test. Photo: Reuters\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c2515e49-b435-4270-ac74-f2313f70c66c_ac707f82.jpg\" title=\"Usman Khawaja leaves the field after being dismissed by England\u2019s Gus Atkinson in the fourth Test. Photo: Reuters\"\/>Usman Khawaja leaves the field after being dismissed by England\u2019s Gus Atkinson in the fourth Test. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Khawaja immigrated to Australia from Islamabad as a child, battling the odds to become the country\u2019s first Pakistan-born and first Muslim, national player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Usman Khawaja will retire from international cricket after the fifth and final Ashes clash against England, he said&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[3443,13285,64,63,56117,651,740,18587,1208,48602,647,74115,15299,46,207187,43290,85,70541],"class_list":["post-385963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-adelaide","tag-ashes","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-cricket-team","tag-brisbane","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-australia","tag-england","tag-islamabad","tag-melbourne","tag-muslim","tag-pakistan","tag-perth","tag-racial-stereotypes","tag-scg","tag-sports","tag-usman-khawaja"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}