Yesterday marked the last day of the fifth Ashes Test and the end of Khawaja\u2019s international Test cricketer career. As I began reflecting on the impact Khawaja has had on the sport, and myself, I decided to text two of my high school friends: \u201cWhen was this photo of all of us with Usman Khawaja taken?\u201d<\/p>\n
Based on their haircuts and us all knowing we\u2019d graduated high school by this point, they both confirmed it was either 2011 or 2012. As uni students, we had caught up at Westfield Burwood for a movie and lunch. I can\u2019t tell you what movie we watched, but I can tell you about my first true interaction with cricket on that day. Khawaja and a few other Sydney Thunder players were signing autographs at the shopping centre. I do love a good celeb selfie, so I convinced the girls to join me in the queue and we took a group shot, and I got a solo with Khawaja as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the first time I\u2019d learnt of a South Asian man playing professional cricket for Australia. On top of a cultural connection, it was Khawaja\u2019s warmth and humility \u2013 especially given that we shamelessly asked him, \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d \u2013 that left a lasting impression.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the years, we\u2019ve all watched Khawaja\u2019s star power grow. But it\u2019s how he\u2019s used his platform to advocate for himself, cultural diversity and even the sport, that\u2019s made him the iconic cricketer he is today. It\u2019s made people like me realise that cricket isn\u2019t just about what happens on the field. It\u2019s just as much about community, and finding a place where you can proudly take a stand for what you believe in and who you are.<\/p>\n
![\"Usman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_1124.jpg\")
Meeting Usman Khawaja during my uni days (I\u2019m showing my age). Image Source: Draw Your Box<\/p>\n
In 2023, I covered the Kayo Sports Summer of Cricket Launch at Parramatta where I recorded a now-viral video (embedded below) of Khawaja candidly speaking up about his South Asian upbringing. This was a world-class cricketer, the only Pakistani-born player and Muslim to play Tests for Australia. He\u2019d migrated from Pakistan to Australia as a child with his parents, and he was now telling us about his \u201cDesi\u201d family, his mum refusing to speak to him when he first dated a white girl, growing up in Westmead, and his boundless love for chicken kadai and biryani. It doesn\u2019t get more second-gen South Asian than that! I\u2019m generalising, but you get my point. By being as brown and proud as one could be, Uzzy was inviting the rest of us to do the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel the same playing against Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,\u201d he said. \u201cMy family is very Desi. Like I grew up eating chicken kadai and parathas and kheemas and biryani. My mum [was] old school and I brought my first girlfriend home and she didn\u2019t talk to me for three months,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in a very subcontinental family. So for me, playing against anyone from the subcontinent\u2026 I just feel like we have that connection. Also because I can speak the language, but also because that\u2019s how I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later that year, he spoke at the launch of Cricket Australia\u2019s Multicultural Action plan, reminding us of the common second-gen experience of feeling caught between two cultures.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very Australian, but I grew up very subcontinental,\u201d Khawaja said<\/a> during the press conference. \u201cThe things I had to deal with growing up were very different than things that other teammates in my era had to grow up with. I\u2019ve always found it very hard to relate to my teammates in some respects, but also with my coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of some of the particular challenges during his career as a South Asian Australian cricketer, Khawaja explained: \u201cAll my coaches were white Australian, all the selectors were white Australian and they didn\u2019t really understand me or my culture.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a long time Cricket Australia has been a very white-dominated sport,\u201d he added. \u201cHopefully this will be a legacy that lasts long into the future where we can see greater representation, both male and female, in Australian cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n @drawyourbox<\/a> Just when you thought Usman Khawaja couldn\u2019t be more of a legend! The Australian cricketer talks about growing up in a South Asian family \ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffe #usmankhawaja<\/a> #cricket<\/a> #cricketworldcup<\/a> #australia<\/a> #parramatta<\/a> #southasian<\/a> #desi<\/a> #ausvspak<\/a> #kayosports<\/a> \u266c Hass Hass \u2013 Diljit Dosanjh & Sia & Greg Kurstin<\/a> <\/p>\n Cricket hasn\u2019t been immune to racism, and a year after Australian fans chanted, \u201cWhere\u2019s your visa?\u201d towards Indian fans<\/a> at the MCG, Khawaja once again spoke last week (1 January 2026) about his own experiences of racism in the context of cricket and how sports media reported about him during his career. \u201cThese are the same racial stereotypes that I\u2019ve grown up with my whole life,\u201d he said<\/a> in a press conference announcing his retirement from international Test cricket.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a proud Muslim coloured boy from Pakistan who was told that he would never play for Australia. Look at me now,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n You can\u2019t be what you can\u2019t see, but this morning (January 9), Khawaja told reporters he never set out to be a role model.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAll I ever tried to do while playing cricket for Australia, particularly the last little bit, was be myself. I always said to people that, you know they said, \u2018You\u2019re a role model for so many people\u2019 and all these other things. I never tried to be a role model. I was just trying to be true to myself and trying to show the real Uzzy,\u201d he told reporters<\/a> (video embedded below).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the real Uzzy is flawed in a lot of ways, like everyone I see else is. I was pretty good at playing cricket, I hope I still am pretty good at playing cricket and doing all the right things,\u201d he laughed. \u201cAnd then, just like everyone else, I want to show them that I\u2019m human, just like you. I\u2019m Australian, just like you. And for me, that was the most important thing.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if people saw that, and then they see what I represent, which I\u2019ve said for a long time is inclusivity, equality, everything that I stand for, then that was more important to me than anything that anyone else might say.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n If this is what Khawaja set out to do, he bloody well succeeded! His words beautifully capture the Uzzy I met more than a decade ago at a suburban shopping centre. The Uzzy who\u2019s just like us \u2013 whose compassion, authenticity and relatability has transcended time, converting the most clueless of us (when it comes to cricket), into appreciators of the sport.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no rules on how to be a cricket fan and Uzzy reminds us to be ourselves. It\u2019s about blasting your hype song as you dress up in your favourite team\u2019s colours. It\u2019s about the conversations you have with strangers on the train and bus as you make your way to the SCG. It\u2019s about the cricket memes you send your friends, and it\u2019s about the personal gossip you can\u2019t help exchanging in the stands with your girlfriends when you\u2019ve been at the match for hours. \u201cSo, are you dating someone?\u2026 Oh oops, I just missed that \u2013 what happened?\u201d Be flawed, be proud and be you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Next time I pack a thermos of chai to sip on during a match, I know I\u2019ll pause and recognise how someone like Uzzy showed me the powerful intersection between community, identity and sport.<\/p>\n Like this:<\/p>\n Like Loading\u2026<\/p>\n![\"Usman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_1588.jpg\")
I met Usman Khawaja again in 2025. Photo: Draw Your Box<\/p>\n