Australia batter Usman Khawaja recently opened up on the inclusivity challenges he has faced while being brought up in Australia. Khawaja was born in Islamabad, Pakistan on 18 December, 1986 but he moved to Sydney with his family when he was very young.

When he made his Test debut against England in Sydney during the 2010-11 Ashes series, Khawaja became the first Muslim cricketer to represent Australia. “I wanted to be as white as possible, because I felt like that’s what I had to do to play for Australia,” the 37-year-old told ABC Sport.

He also revealed how things changed around him following the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001. “After September 11, things changed a lot, you know, everywhere around the world. There were a lot of things I’d grown up seeing and experiencing,” he added. Over the last few years, Khawaja has come to accept who he is, both professionally and personally.

“The last five years, in particular, I’ve thought about what legacy I want to leave in this game. I’ve played cricket for a long time, and people will remember me as a cricketer. But there’s so much about Australia that I love and want everyone else to experience,” he stated.

Khawaja hoped that people from different backgrounds, irrespective of the caste, would get access to Australian cricket. “People are often scared of what they don’t understand. But you don’t need to understand everything. I’m still a human being; I’m still a person. Where I’ve come from or what I believe in is irrelevant,” said the left-handed batter.

Khawaja stressed on the need for him to stand up when there is division between people of different communities in Australia. “When I see people creating hate, trying to divide the Australian community based on beliefs or backgrounds, I feel an obligation to stand up for all the people like myself and those who don’t have a voice. If I don’t stand up for that, who will?”, questioned Khawaja.

Till date, Khawaja has played 73 Tests, 40 ODIs and nine T20Is, and has scored 5451, 1554 and 241 runs respectively across the three formats.