Jason Gillespie has described as “ridiculous” a passage in Usman Khawaja’s book in which he criticises the former Australian Test quick about comments he made after his retirement press conference in January.
Gillespie, the pace-bowling great who took 259 Test wickets across the 1990s and 2000s, also accused Khawaja of being a “hypocrite”.
Usman Khawaja. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images
When Khawaja faced the press ahead of this year’s SCG Test to announce his retirement and discuss his career and life, he took aim at the media and former players over some of the reaction to the back injury that affected him in the 2025 Perth Test.
Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan and moved to Australia as a young boy, said some of the reaction, which centred on his decision to play three rounds of golf in three days in the lead-up to the Perth Test, carried racial undertones.
Gillespie hit out.
“Being questioned over that and being held to account over your choices, that’s not bullying, it’s not abuse – that’s all part and parcel of being a professional,” Gillespie said on ABC radio at the time.
“You can’t really throw a temper tantrum when asked to take accountability for the job you’re actually paid to do.
“I think the media in this space have been very consistent throughout this Ashes series. They’ve consistently questioned the preparation of the England side. I don’t see how that’s been any different.”
Gillespie also said he didn’t question that Khawaja had experienced racism throughout his life and stated he had always “admired” him for speaking out against it.
Khawaja fired up at Gillespie in his book Sabr, which was released to the public on Tuesday.
“Funnily, the next day (after his retirement press conference), from what I saw, only one person really had an issue with what I said. It was retired legend Jason Gillespie, who came out and said that I was having a ‘temper tantrum’,” Khawaja wrote.
“The irony is that Jason is of Aboriginal descent, and I couldn’t believe that someone who supports First Nations people like he does, who goes out to communities, and has done all the great work that he has done, could be so tone deaf on the topic.
Australian pace-bowling great Jason Gillespie during his coaching tenure with Pakistan. Getty Images
“As soon as you talk about these issues, some people just say, ‘Oh, there he goes, playing the race card again,’ as if the problem doesn’t exist. I knew this would happen – just not from someone like Jason.”
Gillespie was asked about Khawaja’s criticism on ABC radio on Saturday.
“I didn’t think I said anything that was controversial,” Gillespie said.
“He called me ‘tone deaf’ I think as well, and he was referencing my Indigenous heritage. I’m not sure why he needed to bring that up.
“I found that quite ridiculous, to be honest.”
Gillespie said he didn’t want to give Khawaja’s broadside much more “air time”, adding: “I’m not sure it deserves it.”
But he proceeded to clip the former Test batter again.
“I think it’s actually a little bit hypocritical of Usman to misrepresent my words when he’s complaining about being misrepresented himself,” Gillespie said.