Usman Khawaja is prohibited by Cricket Australia from donning shoes featuring the slogans “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal,” adorned in the Palestinian colors of red, black, white, and green during the initial Test against Pakistan in Perth.
Usman Khawaja, the left-handed batsman, wore these shoes in a practice session on Tuesday, expressing his intent to showcase them during Day 1 of the Perth Test on Thursday. However, Cricket Australia released a statement late on Wednesday, referencing ICC rules that prohibit political messaging.
“We support the right of our players to express personal opinions,” a CA statement said. “But the ICC has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages which we expect the players to uphold.”
Khawaja expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and called for an end to casualties on both sides in the Israel war through his social media. According to ICC rules, players are not allowed to showcase personal messages on their attire without the consent of their cricket board.
However, the global governing body explicitly prohibits players from displaying messages associated with “political, religious, or racial activities or causes.” The ICC contends that such messages have the potential to promote ‘divisive’ agendas in a sport intended to unite communities.
“We stand behind Usman Khawaja”- Pat Cummins
Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, expressed his backing for Usman Khawaja. Cummins mentioned that although Khawaja has agreed not to wear the shoes, he doesn’t view the message as “divisive” and supports the significance Khawaja intended to convey.
“It’s one of our strongest points, our team, that everyone has their own passionate views and individual thoughts,” Cummins told reporters on Wednesday. “I chatted to Uzzie briefly about it today. I don’t think his intention was to make too bit of a fuss, but we support him.”
”He said he won’t (wear the shoes) I don’t know if Uzzie was across (the ICC rules). On his shoes were, ‘All Lives Are Equal’. I don’t think that’s very divisive. I don’t think anyone can really have too many complaints about that.”
“Everyone in our team has their own individual thoughts, and I love that. You want everyone to being their own individual self to the team. What was on the shoes, ‘All Lives Are Equal’. I support that,” the skipper added.
The inaugural Test match between Australia and Pakistan in Perth is set to commence at 7:50 am IST on Thursday.
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