Australian Test opener Usman Khawaja has spoken out towards a “subconscious” racial bias in group choices Down Under.
Speaking to Sydney Morning Herald, Khawaja stated, “There’s subconscious bias. If you have two cricketers, one brown, one white, both the same, the white coach is going to pick the white cricketer just because he has a son that might look similar to him. It’s what’s familiar to him.”
Khawaja was born in Pakistan and moved at a younger age to Sydney, the place he grew up and performed cricket within the jap Suburbs, notably with David Warner.
Khawaja lately jumped 4 spots to interrupt again into the highest 10. His unbeaten 195 within the drawn Sydney Test towards South Africa noticed him soar to No. 8 within the rankings, making him one in all 4 Australians within the prime 10 within the Test batting charts, together with Marnus Labuschagne on the prime, Smith at No. 2 and Travis Head ranked fourth.
Last month, Khawaja revealed on Twitter how he has been usually stopped by safety to have his credentials checked – regardless of being dressed within the official group equipment.
‘I got stopped three times last year at our hotel, while in Australian kit and asked if I was with the Australian cricket team…’ Khawaja wrote.
Khawaja continues to be the one Muslim participant to have ever performed for Australia. Jason Gillespie and Scott Boland are the one two Indigenous males to have ever performed Test cricket for Australia.