Srinagar: ICC has once again denied Australia batter Usman Khawaja’s request to use a symbol to highlight awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Usman Khawaja who was reprimanded for using black armband in Perth Test and earlier was forced to not to wear shoes with “All Lives Matter” slogan had now requested ICC to allow him use dove and an olive branch on his bat and shoes during the Boxing Day Test. However, the request has once again been denied.
Meanwhile West Indies legend Michael Holding has lashed out at ICC for hyprocrisy and has come out in support of Usman Khawaja.
In an interview with The Weekend Australian, Holding remarked: “I have been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I’m surprised by the ICC’s stance.”
“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.”
“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes’,” said Holding. “So how the f*** people were allowed to take the knee for BLM and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colours?”
Speaking on Friday ahead of the second Test of the series in Sydney, Khawaja also questioned whether the ICC were enforcing their regulations consistently.
“They asked me on day two [in Perth] what it [the armband] was for and told them it was for a personal bereavement,” said Khawaja. “I never ever stated it was for anything else. The shoes were a different matter, I’m happy to say that. The armband makes no sense to me. I followed all the regulations, past precedents, guys that put stickers on their bats, names on their shoes, done all sorts of things in the past without ICC approval and never been reprimanded.”
“I respect the ICC and the rules and regulations they have. I will be asking them and contesting whether they make it fair and equitable for everyone and they have consistency in how they officiate. That consistency hasn’t been done yet. I was very open and honest with that. I’ll deal with that with the ICC.”