Steve Smith defended Usman Khawaja, calling criticism of his pre-match preparation 'unfair'. Khawaja, at his retirement press conference, opened up about feeling 'different' and linked the criticism to racial stereotypes he has faced.
Steve Smith Calls Criticism of Khawaja 'Unfair'
Australian batter Steve Smith chose not to comment on Usman Khawaja's remarks at his retirement press conference about "feeling different in a lot of respects" but commented on criticism around Khawaja's preparation for the first Test in Perth, where he struggled with back spasms, according to ESPNcricinfo. Khawaja has said he will retire from international cricket after the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney against England, beginning Sunday.
"I'm not going into the mind of Usman Khawaja. He's had a great career," Smith said, according to ESPNcricinfo. "In terms of preparation, I think he's always prepared the same way. He's worked hard. Some of the stuff around him getting injured when he played golf the day before the game, that was unfair...I think he's done that for 15 years and had a pretty good career. On an odd occasion where he prepared the same way he got injured, it's pretty unfair to single that out. To the rest of it, I can't really say too much on that, that's Usman's views," he noted.
'Felt Different... Treated Different': Khawaja on Criticism
The 39-year-old Khawaja will enter his last Test with 87 matches and 6206 runs, including 16 centuries and 28 half-centuries. He has an average of 43.39 in 157 innings. The veteran cricketer confirmed his international retirement during a 50-minute press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
During the emotional press conference, Khawaja opened up about receiving criticism for playing three days of golf ahead of the Ashes opener in Perth, where he suffered back spasms and was forced not to open the batting for Australia in the second innings.
Khawaja, the first Muslim to play Test cricket for Australia, said he has faced criticism throughout his career. "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 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," Khawaja said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. "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 been treated like that in the Australian cricket team before," the 39-year-old added.
Having already won the series, Australia would like to win the fifth Test to make it 4-1 while England will like a repeat of the fourth Test which they won. (ANI)
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