Usman Khawaja opens up on how racial bias still largely impacts cricket in Australia

The star cricketer Usman Khawaja made damning comments at Cricket Australia in his latest interview. He said that racial bias continues in the nation's cricket system and nothing has changed in the last ten years. He also revealed that he didn't support cricket in Australia while growing up.

The 36-year-old opener added that the cricketing landscape in Australia is not changing and it's a major concern for coloured players. Khawaja reveals that a lack of representation at a high-performance level is also affecting Cricket Australia.

“That’s where I’m trying to work with Cricket Australia saying, ‘Look, guys ... you invest a lot of money into this, but something’s not going right. You’ve been doing it for 10 years and nothing’s changed’,” Khawaja told in his interview with Sydney Morning Herald.

“There’s subconscious bias. If you have two cricketers, one brown, one white, both the same, the white coach is going to pick the white cricketer just because he has a son that might look similar to him. It’s what’s familiar to him.”

Khawaja made history when he became the first Muslim cricketer to represent Australia in 2011. But he has been restricted to only 56 Tests and 49 white-ball international matches so far. Khawaja lost his regular place in the Test squad during the rise of Marnus Labuschagne but made a sensational comeback during the 2021-22 Ashes with back-to-back centuries. 

I got stopped 3 times last year at our hotel: Usman Khawaja

Khawaja also pointed out on the Twitter that he is often reminded about Australian cricket's white majority and that he is subjected to weird security checks even while being in the Australian kit. 

“I got stopped 3 times last year at our hotel, while in Australian kit and asked if I was with the Australian Cricket team.” 

When asked about whether a lack of diversity at the highest level has any impact on his career, Khawaja said that he has been ignored for the selection plenty of times.

“There’s been plenty of times I should’ve been picked for teams and I wasn’t. But it just made me have a bigger chip on my shoulder. We’ve come a long. But I’ll keep doing it because I want people to know what it’s like,” Khawaja added.

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