Arthritis once made walking 10 metres hard for Khawaja, yet he scored 16 Test centuries: the story he hid for 17 years

Australian left-handed batter Usman Khawaja’s statistics are familiar to cricket fans — 88 Tests, 6,229 runs and 16 centuries. But the 39-year-old has now himself told the story of a pain he kept hidden behind those numbers for 17 years.

In an interview on the Australian television programme ‘Australian Story’, Khawaja said he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at just 22. It is a form of arthritis in which the body’s immune system attacks its own healthy tissue, especially the joints, causing severe pain, swelling and inflammation. In Khawaja’s case, the disease attacked his left knee.

The pain became so severe that at one point walking even 10 metres was almost impossible. Recalling that time, Khawaja said, ‘I honestly thought I was going to die.’

It was 2009. Khawaja was playing for New South Wales and it was the off-season. The young batter, moving forward with the dream of playing for the national team, saw his life hit by this crisis at exactly that moment.

The doctors knew about the disease, and so did the relevant people in the cricket administration. But Khawaja told none of his teammates. He feared that if his illness became known he would be seen differently, that someone might want to give him special treatment, and that opponents could exploit his weakness. Even close friends and former teammates David Warner and Michael Hussey did not know about his condition.

The fight could not be won on willpower alone. He had to take regular medication and injections. Relying on treatment, he gradually returned to normal life, and about six months after the diagnosis he was able to return to the cricket field. In Khawaja’s words, without that medicine he could never have played cricket again, or even returned to a normal life.

Then, in January 2011, Khawaja made his Test debut against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground. But getting into the national team did not solve everything — he was dropped from the side repeatedly and came back again. Failure and criticism came, but he did not give up.

The most memorable chapter of Khawaja’s comebacks was the 2021-22 Ashes. He scored centuries in both innings of the Sydney Test. It was at that same Sydney ground that he said goodbye to international cricket in January 2026, playing the fifth Ashes Test against England.

After retirement, he has opened the door on that secret chapter. His autobiography ‘Sabr’ — the Arabic word meaning patience — is coming, and in it he will tell many more untold stories of his life and cricket career.

By revealing his illness, the former Australian opener now wants to encourage others, especially people suffering from autoimmune diseases. Khawaja said that if someone with rheumatoid arthritis can play professional cricket at the highest level, he believes many more people can also achieve a great deal.