Usman Khawaja

Usman Tariq Khawaja is a former Australian international cricketer, born in Islamabad, Pakistan, on 18 December 1986; his family emigrated to New South Wales when he was four. A left-handed top-order batter, he represented Australia in all formats between 2011 and 2026, scoring 6,229 runs and 16 centuries in 88 Tests and 1,554 runs in 40 One Day Internationals. ^{1 2 3 4}

He was the first Muslim and the first Pakistani-born cricketer to play Test cricket for Australia, was named ICC Test Cricketer of the Year for 2023, and retired from international cricket in January 2026 after the final Ashes Test in Sydney. ¹

Khawaja was born in Islamabad to Tariq Khawaja and Fozia Tariq, and the family emigrated to New South Wales when he was four. He is a qualified commercial and instrument-rated pilot who gained his pilot's licence before his driving licence and completed a bachelor's degree in aviation at the University of New South Wales before his Test debut. He married Rachel in April 2018; the article records that she converted to Islam before their wedding. He is a dual Australian and Pakistani citizen. ¹

Khawaja made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 2008, moved to Queensland around 2012, captained the state in first-class cricket from 2015 to 2024 and led it to the 2020–21 Sheffield Shield title. In the Big Bash League he played for the Sydney Thunder from 2011 to 2022, winning the 2015–16 season with them and taking man of the match in the final with a top score of 70, then moved to the Brisbane Heat as captain in 2022. He also played county cricket in England for Derbyshire, Lancashire and Glamorgan, and briefly in the Indian Premier League and the Pakistan Super League. ¹

Khawaja was selected in Australia's squad for the 2010–11 Ashes and debuted in the fifth Test against England at Sydney on 3 January 2011, becoming the 419th Australian Test cricketer and the first Muslim and first Pakistani-born player to play Test cricket for Australia. He scored his maiden Test century (174) against New Zealand in November 2015 and a match-saving 141 against Pakistan in Dubai in October 2018, and played at the 2019 Cricket World Cup. ¹

After a long absence, Khawaja returned to international cricket in the fourth Ashes Test at Sydney in January 2022 and scored twin centuries (137 and 101 not out), then was the highest scorer on the 2022 tour of Pakistan with 496 runs at an average of 165.33, earning player of the series. He was the second-highest scorer overall, and the highest Australian, in the 2021–2023 World Test Championship with 1,621 runs as Australia won the title, and for 2023 he won both the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award and the Shane Warne Test Player of the Year award. In the 2023 Ashes in England he scored 496 runs at 49.60, the most by a player on either side, and in January 2025 he scored his career-best 232 against Sri Lanka at Galle, becoming the first Australian to score a Test double century in Sri Lanka. ¹

On 2 January 2026 he announced he would retire from international cricket after the fifth Ashes Test, and he bid farewell after the Sydney Test as Australia won the series 4–1, closing his Test career with 6,229 runs and 16 centuries in 88 Tests. ¹

This section reports positions and criticisms as the sources attribute them; they are not the museum's verdict. In December 2023, at a training session before the first Test against Pakistan, Khawaja wore shoes bearing the words "all lives are equal" and "freedom is a human right" in the colours of the Palestinian flag; the ICC warned it would sanction him if he continued, he covered the writing with tape and wore black armbands, which the ICC ruled breached its clothing and equipment regulations, and Khawaja said he respected the ICC and its rules and would ask it for consistency in how it officiates, posting the hashtags "inconsistent" and "doublestandards" and pointing to religious symbols other players display on their bats. Australia captain Pat Cummins publicly supported him, and commentator Michael Holding denounced what he called the ICC's hypocrisy. ¹

In February 2025 Khawaja supported commentator Peter Lalor after Lalor's radio station sacked him for criticising Israel's actions in the Gaza war on social media, saying that standing up for the people of Gaza is not antisemitic, and in June he refused an interview with the station over its treatment of Lalor. During the 2023 Ashes he was involved in a heated exchange with MCC members in the Lord's pavilion after the Jonny Bairstow stumping, and later described the English crowd's abuse as the worst he had experienced in his career. ¹

Khawaja's public significance lies in his standing as the first Muslim and first Pakistani-born Test cricketer for Australia, in a late-career resurgence that made him one of the world's leading Test batters and the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year for 2023, and in the prominence of his public positions on Gaza and on the ICC's consistency within one of the world's most visible cricket teams. ¹

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