Cricket seems insignificant: Khawaja on lacking motivation during ongoing Gaza war

Listen to Story Australia opener Usman Khawaja has revealed that he is lacking motivation to play cricket at the moment. Speaking to Fox Cricket, Khawaja revealed ahead of the final Test match of the Series in Sydney that the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has affected him a lot. Khawaja in fact wanted to wear a peace logo during the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne to protest against the loss of lives during the war.

on the cricketing body. Speaking ahead of the final Test match of the series, Khawaja said that he has been lacking motivation since the Sheffield Shield. "I don’t do these things on a whim – this is something that has affected me for a long time. I was playing Sheffield Shield cricket before the Test series and I was really lacking motivation.

I talked to my wife Rachel, I talked to our sports psychologist Brent Membrey and Cricket Australia and told them I really am struggling for motivation right now," Usman Khawaja explained in an interview to Fox Sports. Many lives have been lost since Hamas decided to attack Israel in early October.

After Hamas' attack, Israel responded with their military force and nearly flattened Gaza a city in Palestine. Khawaja said that playing cricket seemed insignificant during the time of war and that he had been struggling with the thought. "When I see all these people, particularly innocent kids, dying and I see videos of that happening it really has an effect on me.

Going out and playing cricket just seemed so insignificant and I’m really struggling with it. It had a big impact on me. I thought long and hard about what I could do and how I could do it without segregating and pushing people aside," Khawaja added. Usman Khawaja has been in decent touch in the ongoing Test match.

The batter is yet to score a century in the series and would hope to turn around his fortunes at the Sydney Cricket Ground..