Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has been warned against showing an on-field message in support of Palestinians at a Test match against Pakistan.
The batter had planned to wear shoes bearing the words “all lives are equal” and “freedom is a human right”. Australia's cricket authority has said Khawaja must abide by international rules prohibiting “personal messages”.
Captain Pat Cummins has expressed support for his teammate but said he would now not wear the shoes. Khawaja was spotted sporting the shoes earlier this week while training for the upcoming Test in Perth and has previously shared social media posts expressing support for people in Gaza.
“Do people not care about innocent humans being killed? Or is it the colour of their skin that makes them less important? Or the religion they practice? These things should be irrelevant if you truly believe that ‘we are all equal',” he commented on a Unicef Instagram video.
But after news of Khawaja's plans broke on Wednesday, Cricket Australia put out a statement saying: “We support the right of our players to express personal opinions. But the ICC [International Cricket Council] has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages which we expect the players to uphold.”
Cummins later told media the team supported Khawaja.
“I think he had ‘all lives are equal'. I don't think that's very divisive. I don't think anyone can have too many complaints about that.”
Cummins also said that Khawaja hadn't intended to “make too big of a fuss” and after being made aware of the ICC rules, he had decided against wearing the shoes on-field.
— CutC by bbc.com
