Veteran Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has announced his retirement from international cricket.
"God, through cricket, has given me far more than I ever imagined," he told reporters at a press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday morning.
"He's given me memories I'll carry forever, friendships that go well beyond the game, and lessons that shaped me, who I am off the field."
Khawaja said the fifth Ashes Test of the series at the SCG — where he made his debut in 2011 — will be his last.
His announcement followed months of speculation about his future. He was unable to open in the first Ashes Test in Perth in November due to back spasms and then missed the Brisbane Test last month with the injury.
At age 39, he will become Australia's oldest Test player in 40 years at the SCG on Sunday.
He will finish with 88 Tests to his name, having already risen to be Australia's 15th greatest run-scorer in history with 6,206.
On-field accomplishments aside, Khawaja has been widely regarded as a trailblazer in Australian sport.
The first Muslim to play Test cricket for Australia, he's been a prominent advocate for inclusion and representation, speaking openly about faith, racism and belonging at the elite level.
Khawaja has also used his profile to advocate for humanitarian causes, and he has been a vocal supporter of the people of Gaza amid the Hamas-Israel conflict.
His decision to walk away also means the Sydney Test will also turn into something of a farewell party, with the series decided and Australia 3-1 up.
Sydney will be a fitting location for his final Test, given so much of his career has been based around the city he moved to as a four-year-old from Islamabad, Pakistan.
His 2011 debut against England, in which he scored 37 runs, offered Australian fans hope at the end of the worst home summer this century.
And it was at the SCG where he revived his career as a 35-year-old, scoring twin centuries against England when Travis Head missed a Test in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That Test prompted one of the great late-career revivals, hitting seven centuries in his first two years back in the side as part of a dominant opening partnership with childhood friend David Warner.
— With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press.
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