‘I have no issue in dealing with conflict, because I’ve done it all my life,’ the Australia batter tells Andy Bull as he prepares for the Ashes
“I’ve grown up as a coloured cricketer in a very white Anglo-Saxon country and a very white Anglo-Saxon cricket team,” he says. “I mean, how many players of colour have represented Australia? Barely any. Andrew Symonds was one, but he was as Australian as they come. He had the most down-to-earth, lovable bogan charm about him. No one ever thought him anything other than Australian. But me? I stick out like a sore thumb.
Odd thing was, he says, “me and JL were closer than anyone because he respected me for it. He knew if I said something it was going to be to his face, not behind his back”. Khawaja says he has had to face a lot of the same things in Australia. “Luckily, my teammates were always respectful to me. But I always felt like an outsider. I don’t drink. And I don’t buy guys drinks. But I’ve no issues with people drinking alcohol, either, it’s your life, do whatever you want to do. I respect that and they respect me.”
He is playing a part in it himself. Khawaja has set up a foundation offering free cricket clinics. “When I came to Australia I didn’t know a word of English,” he says. “I went to kindergarten when I was five and the teacher asked me: ‘How are you going?’ and apparently I replied in fluent Urdu.
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