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Perception of me being a ‘lazy’ cricketer was because I was Pakistani: Khawaja

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 9/16/2020 1:06:42 PM

New Delhi, Sep 15 Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has even earlier spoken about having to deal with issues of racism while growing up in the country. Over time, Usman Khawaja, who moved to Australia when he was five, has become the country’s most high-profile cricketer of Asian descent since he made his Test debut in 2011. But he has said that the perception of being a cricketer from the subcontinent has associated certain tags with him, that have been difficult to shrug off in the many years that he has played for Australia. "I always had that 'lazy' undertone when I was growing up and I think part of that was my relaxed nature but part of it was also because I was Pakistani, and subcontinent people were seen as lazy, not doing the hard yards and whatnot," he told cricket.com.au. "Running has never been natural to me, so when we used to do lots of fitness testing I wasn't as good as everyone else. When you put that against where I was from, that did play against me. "I like to think we're starting to move on from that, but there's definitely still that undertone I still hear (similar stereotypes), if someone's a bit different, he added.