Australian batsman
Usman Khwaja recently opened up about his struggles with racism during the
early parts of his career. The first Muslim cricketer to represent the nation, Khwaja
was born in Pakistan’s Islamabad and moved to Australia in the 1990s. He faced
a number of obstacles in his career because of the colour of his skin, being told
he would never make it to the national team.

Also Read | With Test 200 at Lord’s, Devon Conway breaches many records

In an
interview with ESPNcricinfo, Khwaja said, “When I was younger in Australia, the
amount of time I got told I was never going to play for Australia, I’m not the
right skin colour was immense. I’d get told I don’t fit the team, and they
wouldn’t pick me. That was the mentality, but now it’s starting to shift.”

Here are a
few more instances of players speaking up against racism:

Moeen
Ali

Moeen Ali was
subjected to racist comments during the 2015 Ashes series, when an unnamed
Australian player called him “Osama”. The all-rounder stopped his teammates
from lodging an official complaint against the player, with coach Trevor
Bayliss later saying Ali “did not want to create problems for anyone”. Ali also
mentioned the incident in his autobiography released in 2018.

Chris
Gayle

Chris Gayle
was among a number of players who spoke up about the racism they have faced amid
the Black Lives Matter protests. Taking to Instagram, Gayle said, “I have
travelled the globe and experienced racial remarks towards me because I am black.
Even within teams, as a black man, I get the end of the stick.”

Kumar
Sangakkara

Another cricketer to weigh in on racism after the death of George Floyd, former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara called for the education system to teach “real history”, instead of a sanitised version. “It doesn’t matter if you are educated or not. I have seen some of the worse acts committed by people with best education,” he said. ” I think one of the most important things is to teach our children history as it should be, and not the sanitised version of it.”

Darren Sammy

Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy revealed that he was subjected to racism from his teammates during his time with the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. Sammy said he and Thisara Perera used to be called ‘kalu’. 

Virat Kohli

Indian skipper Virat Kohli expressed his outrage against racial slurs hurled at Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah from sections of the crowd during the third Test against Australia in Sydney earlier this year. 

A number of cricketers took to social media to hit back against the incident, which led to at least six people being ejected from the stadium and ICC launching an investigation.