Usman Khawaja on racism in Australian cricket: "There's definitely still that undertone"

The 33-year-old Pakistani-born batsman says criticism of his demeanor is motivated by prejudice against his background - but believes things are starting to change

• Langer reveals regret over taking a knee stance
• Holding attacks England and Australia

Australia batsman Usman Khawaja has hit out at the racist abuse he has received as a result of the perception of him being lazy.

The 33-year-old is part of a Cricket Australia working group which is building an action plan to improve cultural diversity and inclusivity within the sport.

Khawaja, who has played 44 Tests, 40 one-day internationals, and nine T20s for Australia, moved from his Pakistan homeland aged five.

The left-hander has regularly being accused of not having the right attitude and adopting a passive approach at the crease - accusations that he believes are directly linked to his ethnicity.

"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 if someone's a bit different."

The comments come after Australia came under fire from ex-West Indies seamer Michael Holding for not taking a knee during the white-ball tour of England.

Last December, CA announces its second Reconciliation Action Plan which sought to improve relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Dan Christian last week used the first episode of the Cricket Connecting Country panel to outline his own experiences of racism, which he believes is an "issue" and more than "casual".

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