Usman Khawaja has been the subject of a massive controversy surrounding his show of solidarity with the people caught in Israel-Hamas conflict as part of his footwear ahead of the first Test match against Pakistan. Khawaja wanted to wear shoes with messages like ‘Freedom is a human right’ and ‘All lives are equal’. However, following an intervention from the International Cricket Council (ICC), Australia skipper Pat Cummins said that Khawaja will not be wearing those shoes. While the batter sported new shoes in the match, a pre-match interview saw him appear without his shoes.
Coming up before play: @AlisonMitchell chats with Usman Khawaja #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/TosoDs8qBN
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 14, 2023
During the interview with 7Cricket, Khawaja appeared without his shoes and when asked about the ICC intervention, he said that he will not be wearing the messages on his shoes.
“I’m a grown man, I can do anything I want, but the ICC will just keep coming down and giving me fines, and at some point, it will detract from the game. I stand by what I said. I’ll stand by it forever. But, I also need to go out there and really concentrate on what I’m doing,” Khawaja said in the interview.
However, he made it clear that even if he was not wearing those shoes, he stood by his intentions.
“No, I’ll try to do it as soon as possible, whenever that’s possible. I think there have already been precedents set in the past that ICC have allowed. Precedents said that players have done stuff where ICC hasn’t done anything in the past. So I find it a bit unfair that they have come down on me at this point in time where there have definitely been precedents in the past of similar things,” Khawaja said.
Cricket Australia in a statement released on Wednesday prior to skipper Pat Cummins’ pre-game press conference said, “We support the right of our players to express personal opinions. But the ICC has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages which we expect the players to uphold.”
Cummins also said that he had spoken to the opening batter and he had revealed that he will not be wearing the statements on his shoes during the game. The skipper also expressed his support for Khawaja’s “all lives are equal” message.
(With ANI inputs)
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