‘Hypocritical’: Khawaja wants Australia to end Afghanistan ban, tips Warner reputation revival

Usman Khawaja believes David Warner will regain the love of the Australian public in retirement, much as Shane Warne’s roguish image softened after his playing days.

As Warner’s oldest cricketing colleague, Khawaja paralleled the opener’s year ban from cricket in 2018 with Warne’s 12-month drug suspension in 2003-04, a high-profile issue that, alongside his many off-field misadventures, receded in prominence next to the leg-spinner’s many achievements for Australia.

David Warner and Shane Warne pose together in 2011. Credit: Getty Images

Khawaja also urged Cricket Australia to resume bilateral ties with Afghanistan, declaring CA’s stance on the issue hypocritical when the governing body was benefiting from the services of the nation’s players in the Big Bash League.

Australia’s shock T20 World Cup loss to Afghanistan not only endangered their passage to the semi-finals but pushed Warner closer to the end of his international career, with tonight’s game against India potentially his final appearance in green and gold.

“Look at all the crap Warnie used to do,” Khawaja told this masthead at an Amazon Prime Video Twenty20 World Cup event in Melbourne. “He got in a lot of trouble, he missed a year of cricket, too, for a drugs ban. People still loved Warnie after he stopped playing.

“I think they’re the same. Warnie was polarising for a lot of people who didn’t love Warnie, whereas there were a lot who did love Warnie. Davey’s in the same boat, and that’s what makes him an entertainer in a lot of ways.”

Warner has conceded that the 2018 Newlands scandal will be a defining memory for many of those who have watched his career, but hoped that other facets of his 15 years in international cricket would also be recognised.

“If you have a cricket career and score lots of runs as a batsman and stay out of the media and nothing happens, it’s kinda boring,” Khawaja said. “But he’s got experiences – he’s Dave Warner.

“So, yes, there might be some people who may want to just think about one incident, but he’s done so much more for the game, and I think when he retires people will realise that. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and I think that will be the same with Davey.”

Following Australia’s loss to Afghanistan, the latter’s captain, Rashid Khan, spoke in favour of resuming ties with Australia, and Khawaja said that, on balance, he agreed – although he was sympathetic to the many human rights issues connected to the country’s Taliban leadership.

“I personally think, yes, we should be playing Afghanistan,” he said. “I am sympathetic to both sides of the puzzle. I totally respect and agree with a lot of aspects of the stance Cricket Australia has in terms of women’s cricket in Afghanistan, but there’s also another side to it, of promoting and growing the game.

Usman Khawaja with David Warner during Warner’s final Test match in January.Credit: Getty Images

“This is the second time Australia have backed out of a bilateral series, and I talked to Rashid Khan. He was really disappointed, more so because the Afghanistan people love cricket, and for them cricket is one of the few things they enjoy and brings happiness, and the fact they were going to play Australia was going to be huge, and they don’t get to see that now. So it actually hurts the people, and the people are separate from the government.

“When you look at it in that respect, you hurt people. And also the players have stood up for the exact same cause as CA has. Rashid has shown me his tweets, and that’s tough to do playing for Afghanistan. So then he said, ‘All you’re doing is depriving us players, too. We want to play the best team in the world and we can’t.’”

Rashid is one of numerous Afghanistan cricketers to have taken part in the BBL over the past decade, strengthening the overseas ranks of CA’s domestic T20 tournament.

“It’s a little bit hypocritical too if we say, no, we’re not going to play Afghanistan, but then allowing Afghanistan cricketers to play in the BBL,” Khawaja said. “They 100 per cent should [play], but then how do you do one and not the other?

“We’re benefiting in the BBL from having Afghanistani players, but we’re giving no benefits back by playing them. So how can we benefit from Afghanistani cricketers in the BBL but then say we’re not going to play against you in a bilateral series?”

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