Usman Khawaja posted a video that has images of Marnus Labuschagne with an eagle and bible verse on his bat, and South Africa's Keshav Maharaj with the 'Om' symbol on his bat. Tabraiz Shamsi has supported Khawaja, questioning ICC's "double standards"
Australia opener Usman Khawaja has used a unique way to express his displeasure with International Cricket Council's (ICC) recent rulings. Soon after the apex body turned down Khawaja's request to display a logo of a black dove holding an olive branch on his bat and shoes, he took to social media platform Instagram to call out ICC and highlight their "double standards" over the issue. (Streaming | Preview | Cricket News)
Khawaja uploaded a video with Kanye West’s ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ in the background and a caption that read: “Merry Christmas everybody. Sometimes you just gotta laugh. Cya at Boxing Day! #inconsistent #doublestandards.”
The video includes images of Khawaja's teammate Marnus Labuschagne with an eagle and bible verse on his bat, and South Africa all-rounder Keshav Maharaj with the 'Om' symbol on his bat. You can watch the video below.
Interestingly, Maharaj's spin twin Tabraiz Shamsi has come out in Khawaja's support. Shamsi questioned the ICC's decision to disallow Khawaja's message on shoes, with a post on X (formerly Twitter) that read: "I would like the @ICC to explain what exactly has @Uz_Khawaja done wrong?? Why the double standards??"
West Indies fast bowling legend Michael Holding too lashed out at ICC for their stance. "I have been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I'm surprised by the ICC's stance," Holding told The Weekend Australian.
"If it had been most other organisations that showed some semblance of consistency with their attitude and behaviour on issues I could claim surprise, but not them. Once again, they show their hypocrisy and lack of moral standing as an organisation," Holding added.
ALSO READ: What ICC's Rules Say About Messaging
Khawaja was barred from wearing shoes that had the messages “all lives are equal” and “freedom is a human right” in the first Test against Pakistan last week, and was then sanctioned by ICC for wearing a black armband during the game in Perth. But the southpaw later clarified that it was due to a "personal bereavement" and that he would challenge the decision, adding that he wouldn't do the same in the MCG Test match.
Earlier in the day, Australia captain Pat Cummins, backed his teammate Khawaja's actions. Asked for his opinion on the entire episode at the pre-game press conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Cummins said the messages weren't "very offensive”.
“I don’t know the ins and outs of the application, but I think it is pretty vanilla, a dove,” Cummins said. “We really support Uzzy, I think he’s standing up for what he believes and I think he’s doing it really respectfully. All lives are equal and I don’t think that’s very offensive, and I’d say the same about the dove. That’s Uzzy. He can hold his head high the way he’s gone about it, but there’s rules in place, so I believe the ICC have said they’re not going to approve that. They make up the rules and you’ve got to accept it.”