Australian batter Usman Khawaja, who is part of the Ashes 2021-22 squad, recently opened up on the racism he faced since his teenage days.

In an interview with abc.net.au, Khawaja revealed that he had a tough time breaking the cultural barrier and was subjected to a different kind of racism from time to time because of his skin colour.

“It was hard to break down that cultural barrier,” he said. “I didn’t go out drinking. You know, I went and prayed on Fridays. I did Ramadan. There were a lot of these things in the late 90s, the early 2000s, people had no idea about.

“I was very different and that is held against you to some respect, and I saw it from time to time. I think part of it had to do with culture, part of it definitely had to do with some sort of systemic racism, and even part of it had to do some sort of bias. Because cricket, like any other game, it’s a game selected by people. And you’ve got some lovely people around cricket. Ninety-eight per cent of people that I dealt with in cricket were great people.

“But whether you understand, or whether you like to admit it or not, there’s always a certain connection you have with someone who looks a bit more like you, who’s got similar cultural beliefs as you,” he further added.

Born in 1986 in Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad, Khawaja spent his childhood and teenage days in Australia as his family moved to Sydney when he was only 4.

Usman Khawaja, who is now the captain of the Queensland state team, said it hurts when someone questions his love for Australia.

“Because we’re such a diverse country, so many different, beautiful backgrounds, different cultures, and cricket for a long time has been straight down the line — this way. I think that’s one thing I’d love to see slowly change. [What] really hurts me the most is when I hear someone from the subcontinent or either second or third generation — who do you support? And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah we support India or Pakistan. We don’t support Australia’.

“That hurts me because I love Australia. I love the Australian cricket team and I really want them to feel the same way. I don’t want them to feel like they can’t get involved in that either. When we start seeing that, I think you know you’ve made some good inroads,” he remarked.