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 | )
Khawaja uploaded a video with Kanye West바카라s 바카라Can바카라t Tell Me Nothing바카라 in the background and a caption that read: 바카라Merry Christmas everybody. Sometimes you just gotta laugh. Cya at Boxing Day! #inconsistent #doublestandards.바카라
The video includes images of Khawaja's teammate 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 바카라all lives are equal바카라 and 바카라freedom is a human right바카라 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 offensive바카라.
바카라I don바카라t know the ins and outs of the application, but I think it is pretty vanilla, a dove,바카라 Cummins said. 바카라We really support Uzzy, I think he바카라s standing up for what he believes and I think he바카라s doing it really respectfully. All lives are equal and I don바카라t think that바카라s very offensive, and I바카라d say the same about the dove. That바카라s Uzzy. He can hold his head high the way he바카라s gone about it, but there바카라s rules in place, so I believe the ICC have said they바카라re not going to approve that. They make up the rules and you바카라ve got to accept it.바카라
