To see more Asian Aussies excel in sport is always something good to report, and we don’t talk much on the sport of cricket, despite the fact this is the sport of the Indian Sub Continent. What is a bit shameful is that the teams of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are huge cricket fans and have produced champions and legends of the game, but in Australia cricketers who come from those cultural backgrounds hardly make the state teams or national team.
We do see a few more in local and possibly a handful if that in state teams, but its dismal when it comes to the national team, so this is quite refreshing to see. However, Khawaja’s journey to this point has not been an easy one.
Before this year, the 35 year he hasn’t been chosen to represent Australia since 2019, and he almost gave up the sport. If it wasn’t for one of the other players Travis Head catching COVID, Khawaja wouldn’t have received the call. Good news is he is in and he is opening at the first test match in Pakistan ( the country he was born in).
Khawaja migrated with his family from Pakistan to Australia when he was 5, so what a proud moment it is for him to open in his motherland. Here is more of what he said in an interview with SBS News:
“I’ve got a lot of support here in Pakistan always. I think they’ll support me, they’ll hope I get runs, but they’ll be hoping Australia get smashed at the same time,” he said with a smile on Monday.”
“It’s going to be one of those Catch-22s.”
“But I don’t expect a hostile crowd. Pakistanis love their cricket, and they appreciate good cricket, and I think that’s what they’d be hoping for.”
Good luck to Khawaja for the upcoming test match.
Images via SBS News and Twitter