As Usman Khawaja was making his way through the ranks of New South Wales cricket, he heard isolated remarks questioning his work ethic and his drive to succeed.
The comments came from a small minority but the Australian opener still remembers the taunts more than two decades later.
That he was lazy. A typical cricketer from the subcontinent who did not train hard enough. Those questions as to why he was lagging behind his teammates. The complete lack of understanding and empathy shown by a small proportion of his coaches.
“A lot of the times (there) were stereotypes. But people didn’t understand me or my culture,” he said on Friday.
“Me doing Ramadan as a Muslim … no-one had any idea what I was doing. From the naked eye, (coaches would) just look at and think ‘Oh. Uzzie is not training hard enough. He’s not working hard enough.’
“But it’s 6.30 in the arvo and I haven’t eaten or had a drink all day. I’m cooked. But I’m still training. I’m still out there. We’re doing a fitness session (and) yes, I’m lagging behind everyone, but I am still doing the work.”
Khawaja, 37, is still doing the work. In fact, the opener is doing more than ever, having faced almost as many balls in 2023 in Test cricket as the entire South African team.
And it is not just in the middle where Khawaja, who scored 41 and 90 in the opening Test of the summer against Pakistan in Perth last week, is striving to make the best of himself.
Standing in brilliant sunshine at the MCG on Friday alongside fellow national representative Lisa Sthalekar, with a handful of young hopefuls standing nearby with bat and ball ready to play, the pair helped launch Cricket Australia’s Multicultural Action Plan.
It has been a passion project the duo and Alana King, who is representing Australia in the Test against India, have been involved with in recent years alongside their regular roles in cricket and broadcasting.
Commissioned by Cricket Australia, which received funding from the Federal Government’s Major Event Legacy Fund, it focuses on improving participation, high performance, representation, engagement and the overall experience for everyone involved in cricket.
Stated goals of the ten point plan include increasing the diversity of people filling roles as volunteers and in coaching, as well as ensuring cricket is a welcome space for multicultural communities.
Khawaja, who noted Cricket Australia had made significant efforts to invest in multicultural communities, first raised the matter with chief executive Nick Hockley four years ago when noting there was a dearth of coaches and volunteers from a South Asian background.
He was out of the Australian team at the time and considering whether his legacy as a trailblazer in cricket in the country had actually had a significant impact on changing things for the better.
“This is very close to my heart. I thought, ‘What legacy do I want to actually leave? What can I actually do to make this game be in a better place?’” Khawaja said.
“The first thing I said to (Hockley) was that we have such great participation of Southeast Asian communities and multicultural communities in Australia, but we never see that reflected in the Australian cricket team for both male and female, particularly the male team over the last 100 years.
“How do we change that? What do we need to do? Are we doing things right? And me personally, I felt like we needed to do things a little bit differently.
“So to actually see this action plan, the things we talked about four years ago … hopefully this is the start of something special. Hopefully this will be a legacy that lasts long into the future.”
Sthalekar, a former Australian captain who played eight Test matches and 125 ODIs for her nation, said she suffered similar slights to Khawaja during her youth in Sydney.
“I agree with Usman. You know, some of the things that he was saying, I’ve been called lazy as well,” she said.
“I think there is a stereotype in how people perceive people from our part of the world, so to speak. And, like Usman, all of my coaches, all of my selectors were white. They didn’t come from a multicultural background.
“So I think his point about making sure that there’s representation across the board, from junior cricket to coaches to selectors to high performance to board members.
“(It is the) same with women, as well, being involved in the game. It’s important to have representation of what the whole diverse population is at all different levels. I think things are certainly changing and this action plan will certainly make a huge improvement.”
Hockley, who cited a meeting with Khawaja in a Brisbane cafe in 2019 as having a significant impact on him, said Cricket Australia consulted widely with different communities in pursuit of a stated “mission to be a sport for all”.
“This Multicultural Action Plan was developed after extensive consultation across the community and will enhance and accelerate measures already in place to ensure our game is welcoming, inclusive and fully representative of our population,” he said.
“The enormous crowds at the ICC T20 World Cup provided a wonderful demonstration of cricket’s unique opportunity to bring people together and engage more Australians from South Asian backgrounds in all areas of our game, be that as players, fans, club volunteers, administrators, umpires or coaches.”
Khawaja, who expressed bewilderment on Friday that he had been reprimanded by the ICC for his stance on the Gaza conflict before the Perth Test, was asked whether there was racism within cricket in Australia.
Khawaja reprimanded by ICC for armband | 00:24
He said racism remained a problem all around the world, including in the sport he loved, but also stressed his experiences were largely positive.
“So yes. But the people I’ve dealt with, the majority, let’s say 99 percent of the people have been absolutely great,” he said.
“There are always outliers. So my experience has no regret and I can’t let one percent of the people I’ve dealt with in question cricket tarnish that.
“For me, personally, it’s just about trying to get (that diverse) representation in the Australian cricket team and in administration roles at a higher level so everyone could feel like they’re a part of it.
“Cricket has given me so much. I love the game. I just want everyone to feel what I have found.”
