As Usman Khawaja prepares to play the final Test of his international career, the veteran opener has categorically spoken out on the racial stereotypes. Khawaja, who is Australia’s first Muslim male Test cricketer and a vital figure in the side, confirmed that thoughts of retirement had been circling for some time. The Sydney Test will close the curtain on a glorious career that has spanned more than a decade. Khawaja revealed that the thought of retirement first surfaced during last summer’s demanding series against India.

In an hour-long interaction with media, Khawaja also candidly spoke about the scrutiny he faced leading into the opening Ashes Test in Perth.

"I've always felt a little bit different, even to now. I'm a coloured cricketer. The Australian cricket team is, in my opinion ... that's our best team. It's our pride and joy. But I've also felt very different in a lot of respects, different by the way I've been treated, different for how things have happened. I'll just go back you know somethings that's been on my mind probably from the start of the series that I noticed," Khawaja said while addressing media. 

"I had back spasms, and that's something I couldn't control. But the way the media and the past players came out and attacked me, I could have copped it for two days, but I copped it for about five days straight. And it wasn't even about my performances," he said.

Khawaja remarked such judgements ignored both his experience and his track record and hinted that they were shaped by prevailing stereotypes rather than facts.

"It was about something very personal; it's about my preparation. And the way everyone came at me about my preparation, it was quite personal in terms of things like, He's not committed to the team; he was only worried about himself, he played this golf comp the day before, he's selfish, he doesn't train hard enough, he didn't train with them the day before the game, he's lazy. These are the same stereotypes, the racial stereotypes I've grown up with my whole life."

"I just thought that the media and the old players and everyone else had moved past it, but we obviously haven't fully moved past it, because I've never seen anyone being treated like that in the Australian cricket team before. There's still a little bit out there, which I still have to fight every single day, which is the frustrating thing for me," Khawaja said.