Khawaja's on-field brilliance pales in comparison to his true impact
SOURCE:ABC Australia|BY:Chris De Silva
Before his debut in 2011, Australia had never seen a cricketer like Usman Khawaja and, thanks to his work on and off the field, he'll be followed by plenty more.
The signs were evident early on in Usman Khawaja's career that he would do things his own way.
Khawaja made his international debut for Australia in the 2011 New Year's Test against England in Sydney — during an Ashes series that was otherwise quite forgettable from an Australian perspective.
Coming in to the Australian side to replace injured skipper Ricky Ponting, Khawaja became the first Australian Test debutant to bat at number three since Justin Langer 18 years prior and quickly made an impression.
Khawaja replaced the injured Ricky Ponting (right) when he made his debut in the final Test of the 2010-11 Ashes. (Getty Images: Hamish Blair)
Facing up to towering English paceman Chris Tremlett, Khawaja neatly flicked the first ball of his Test career off his hips for two before sending his second ball screaming to the boundary via a full-blooded pull shot.
The first eight balls of Khawaja's Test career yielded 15 runs. The fluency and audacity of the young Khawaja was a far cry from the dogged veteran fighter he would become later in his career.
That New Year's Test — which England won by an innings and 83 runs — has gone down in infamy if you're Australian, and in folklore if you're English. Before last month's Boxing Day Test, it was England's most recent Test win Down Under.
In Australia's side on that occasion, alongside Khawaja, were fellow youngsters Steve Smith and Phillip Hughes. The trio should have formed the backbone of a strong Australian batting line-up for the decade and a half that followed but would play just one further Test together before Hughes's tragic death in November 2014.
Smith is currently at 122 Tests and counting, while David Warner — who made his Test debut shortly after Khawaja — retired having played 112. Nathan Lyon — who also debuted in 2011 — currently has 141 Test appearances.
Khawaja's numbers in the one-day format also suggest he should have logged far more than 40 ODI appearances for his country — with the last of those coming in the 2019 World Cup.
Like many a prodigious young Australian cricketer, Khawaja was axed from the Test team early on and faced a constant uphill battle to become a regular fixture in the side during the first half of his career.
Since his debut at the start of 2011, Khawaja endured through four separate calendar years where he didn't play a single Test for Australia — two of those came in 2020 and 2021 as Australia trialled a conveyor belt of openers alongside Warner.
Khawaja (left) and Warner became a prolific opening partnership from 2022. (Getty Images: Ryan Pierse)
Could Khawaja have played more throughout that period? His Shield numbers from the seasons he wasn't selected aren't all that favourable, and Khawaja would likely argue that being ignored for those two years led to what came afterwards.
Once Khawaja was reinstated for the New Year's Test in 2022 against England, he did not leave any room for doubts over whether he belonged at the top level, becoming one of the most prolific Test openers in the world.
For someone who has been in and out of Australia's Test side since making his debut, Khawaja's career numbers are gaudier than you think.
Khawaja will have a chance at the SCG to add to his 16 Test centuries for Australia. (AP Photo: Eranga Jayawardena)
His 6,206 Test runs are more than the career marks of Adam Gilchrist, Ian Chappell and Bill Lawry, with a chance to surpass Michael Hussey if he scores just 30 next week. He also has more Test centuries (16) than Damien Martyn, Michael Slater and Dean Jones.
Importantly, Khawaja's game has travelled well throughout his Test career, with seven of his Test tons coming outside of Australia in India, England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and the UAE. For comparison's sake, Warner scored just six — three in South Africa, two in Bangladesh and one in Dubai.
Khawaja's overall average outside of Australia is 40.18 and his 48.05 average as an opener, where he played half his Tests, are both figures comparable to some of the great top-order players in Test history.
Yet it's likely that all those numbers will pale in comparison to what his true generational impact has been as Australia's first Muslim Test cricketer.
Despite Australia being a proudly multicultural nation, its men's cricket team has historically been one devoid of diversity.
It was only in last year's Perth Test that two Indigenous players — Brendan Doggett and Scott Boland — represented Australia's men's side in a Test match for the first time, a record fellow Indigenous paceman Jason Gillespie suggested the country shouldn't be proud of.
The Pakistan-born Khawaja has importantly understood his platform as a trailblazer in the Australian men's cricket team.
He has not been shy about speaking openly about the struggles he faced as a person of colour coming through the ranks, and the systemic issues surrounding cricket's pathways programs that have held back others like him.
The Test team hasn't traditionally been a place where centuries have been followed by celebrations borrowed from LeBron James, yet Khawaja has slowly changed those rigid norms too.
Khawaja has been more than happy to break ground as someone of a South Asian background in a predominantly white space. His ability to deal with all that comes with the territory makes it easier for the next Usman Khawaja coming through the ranks in future generations.
"Never let anyone convince you that you can't, because if they do convince you, then you never will," he said while announcing his retirement at the SCG.
"I'm a proud Muslim coloured boy from Pakistan who was told that he would never play for the Australian cricket team. Look at me now. And you can do the same."
The impact of Khawaja's career is already evident with players of South Asian descent such as Harjas Singh, Harkirat Bajwa, Yash Deshmukh and Aryan Sharma having recently represented Australia at the Under-19 level.
Players such as Australian Under-19 star Harjas Singh (pictured) have Khawaja to look towards for representation in the Test team. (Getty Images: Alex Davidson/ICC)
Players such as Jason and Tanveer Sangha, Gurinder Sandhu and Nivethan Radhakrishnan being regulars at the domestic level suggest Australian cricket's diversity problem is slowly improving, and Khawaja is largely to thank.
Yet, a lack of diversity hasn't dissipated Khawaja's love for Australian cricket one bit.
Khawaja is a fighter through and through. It is embodied in the way he has worked himself back into the team on multiple occasions and in the number of times he has dug in to win or save a Test match for his country in the face of adversity.
Khawaja's spirit and never-say-die attitude is as Australian as it gets.
Alongside Australian men's captain Pat Cummins, Khawaja is the prototypical modern-day athlete who is completely unafraid to touch on political and societal issues, showing his successors the importance of being a role model both on and off the field.
It is fitting that just as it looked like the end of Khawaja's career would be decided for him earlier this summer, he fought his way back in once again — riding a bit of luck in the process — to write his own fairytale ending.
If you've followed Khawaja's career over the last 15 years, then you'll know he'll have had it no other way.