Published: January 2, 2026 at 2:55 am
Australia batter Usman Khawaja has announced his retirement from international cricket, set to draw curtains on his career at the end of the Sydney Ashes Test which begins on January 4.
According to the ICC website, Usman Khawaja called a press conference and made the announcement with his family by his side two days out from the match, ahead of the team’s net session with the Aussies aiming to claim another 12 World Test Championship points and finish the series as 4-1 victors.
“I’m here to announce today that I will be retiring from all international cricket after the SCG Test match,” Khawaja told the media. “God through cricket has given me far more than I could have imagine. He’s given me memories I’ll carry forever, friendship that goes well beyond the game, and lessons that shaped me, who I am, off the field.
“But no career belongs to one person. I obviously had a lot of help. To my parents, thank you for your sacrifices that never made the highlights reel.”
In a career spanning 15 years, Khawaja has amassed over 8000 international runs across formats, while featuring in 87 Tests, 40 ODIs, and nine T20Is.
Known for his resilience at the top of the order, Khawaja fittingly ends his career in his home town of Sydney, where he also made his debut against England in 2011. “Funnily enough, I live just up the road from the SCG, on Cook Road, to be exact,” he said.
“And as a boy, whose parents were barely scraping through in trying to provide for their kids in a little two-bedroom apartment, I thought, ‘One day, I’m going to be a Test cricketer.’”
“I’m a proud Muslim coloured boy from Pakistan who was told that he would never play for the Australian cricket team. Look at me now. And you can do the same.”
It was also at the SCG where he revived his career as a 35-year-old, scoring a pair of centuries against England when Travis Head missed the match in early 2022 with Covid.
Khawaja’s final career spark
It led to a final career spark, hitting seven centuries in his first two years back in the side, and a World Test Championship win in 2023.
The vast majority of Khawaja’s time as a Test opener came after he was recalled to the team in 2022, having been dropped for Marnus Labuschagne during the 2019 Ashes in England.
A weight of Sheffield Shield runs for Queensland saw Khawaja return at number four for the penultimate Test of the 2021/22 Ashes, and he scored remarkable twin tons in another momentous performance at the SCG.
He replaced Marcus Harris for the following Test and was locked into one of two opening positions for the next three-and-a-half years.
Khawaja scored centuries in India, England, Sri Lanka, the UAE and Pakistan, his country of birth, when Australia toured the nation for the first time in 24 years for three Tests in March 2022.
Khawaja for his efforts was named ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year for 2023.
The 39-year-old’s final Test will provide some nice symmetry with his first, which also came against England at the SCG in the final game of the 2010/11 Ashes.
Of the 22 players from that game, only teammate Steve Smith is still active in international cricket.
Khawaja pays tributes to parents, family
Khawaja paid tribute to his parents, Tarek and Fauzia, for how hard they worked in taking them from Islamabad to Sydney and backing him on his cricket journey.
“The early mornings, the long drives, the belief when the results weren’t there,” he said.
“Mum, you knew plenty of those, when I used to become disappointed or sad, you always consoled me, and I’ll never forget that. Dad, you always said that I would play for Australia one day, even though sometimes I didn’t believe it myself.
“You taught me values before ambition, you taught me to be humble, always respectful, and treat everyone as equals, no matter what. I hope I repaid the sacrifice in leaving everything behind in Pakistan to come to Australia to give us kids a better life.”
Brothers Nauman and Arsalan were thanked for their time training in the nets.
“You always instilled that my journey would be tougher than the other kids,” Khawaja said.
“And that if I wanted to make it, I would have to work harder than everyone else, score more runs than the rest, and make sure I don’t give them any excuse not to pick me.
“I’ll never forget those words, and you were 100 per cent right.”
Usman Khawaja with wife Rachel and daughters Aisha and Ayla at Lord’s in 2023. (Getty: Ryan Pierse)
He also paid a special tribute to wife Rachel and daughters Aisha and Ayla.
“This journey has asked more of you than it’s ever asked of me, particularly since you read everything that goes on in the press,” he said to his wife.
“The missed moments, the long stretches apart, the pressures that come with this life, and taking care of the kids on your own — you carried our family so I could chase my dream, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
“I know how you always remind me that all my international centuries came after I met you. You truly are one of my greatest blessings in life … and I thank Allah every day that I got to share this journey with you.”
He and his family have received numerous death threats over the years, with Rachel revealing on Instagram it had “gotten worse” since the terrorist attack in Bondi.
Coming into his final game, Khawaja averages 43.39 overall but a remarkable 48.05 as an opener, where he played half his Tests.
That number puts him in the same league as the likes of Matthew Hayden (50.73), Justin Langer (48.22), Bill Lawry (47.15) and former teammate David Warner (45.08).
Pushed into the middle order for the first time in almost three years, Khawaja’s 82 and 40 were enough to squeeze Josh Inglis out for the Boxing Day Test and set up his Sydney finale.
“As I walk off for the last time, I do so with gratitude and peace, or as we say ‘salam,'” he said.
“Grateful for the journey, the people, the lessons. Thank you for letting me live my dream and for sharing it with me.”
CA’s Todd Greenburg lauds Khawaja
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said he was “one of our most stylish and resilient batters” for 15 years, while also lauding him for his eponymous foundation, which aims to help young Australians from disadvantaged background through cricket and educational support.
“On behalf of Australian cricket, I would like to thank and congratulate Usman for all he has achieved,” Greenberg said.
“Usman has been one of Australia’s most reliable opening batters and testament to his success was him being named ICC Test cricketer of the year the same season that Australia won the World Test Championship.”
