Australian opening batter Usman Khawaja was seen coaching with a particular pair of sneakers , a couple of days earlier than the primary Test towards Pakistan at Perth. There was nothing particular within the sneakers by way of high quality or seems. The sneakers had ‘All Lives Are Equal’ message written on them. Australia’s photojournalists zoomed into the sneakers and clicked the pictures which went viral on web. Usman was set to play the primary Test carrying them, inflicting an enormous uproar in his nation and on social media.
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The opinions had been divided on Khawaja’s act of constructing a ‘political’ assertion of kinds. Some ridiculed the choice, saying that such messaging has no place in sport, that non-public opinions must be stored exterior the cricket subject. At the identical time, others felt that Khawaja was not saying one thing controversial however calling for restoration of peace in war-torned Palestine because the conflict towards Israel continues.
After some days of heavy dialogue, Cricket Australia (CA) despatched a launch to the media, clearly stating that Khawaja could be stopped from taking the sector on Day 1 of the Test if he carries any political messaging to the bottom.
The press launch stated, “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.”
Looks like CA expects Usman Khawaja to chorus from carrying the sneakers. #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/7y3GPkEWGW
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) December 13, 2023
Pat Cummins, Australia captain, then got here out within the pre-match press convention and stated that Khawaja won’t be carrying these sneakers within the Test match, placing an finish to the entire debate.
Why Khawaja has been requested to not put on the sneakers with political messaging?
Khawaja or some other cricketer can not enter the taking part in subject with something political message. In 2014, England’s Moeen Ali had performed a Test match with ‘Save Gaza’ written on his wrist banned and was instructed to take it out subsequently by International Cricket Council (ICC).
The ICC has a strict regulation in place with reference to clothes and gear. As per ICC’s laws: “Any clothing or equipment that does not comply with these regulations is strictly prohibited..in particular, no logo shall be permitted to be displayed on cricket clothing or cricket equipment, other than a national logo, a commercial logo, an event logo, a manufacturer’s.”
“In addition, where any match official becomes aware of any clothing or equipment that does not comply with these regulations, he shall be authorised to prevent the offending person from taking the field of play (or to order them from the field of play, if appropriate) until the non-compliant clothing or equipment is removed or appropriately covered up.”
The first Test is being officiated by India’s Javagal Srinath. If Khawaja had tried to play with the ‘political message’ sneakers, Srinath had each proper to cease him from taking the sector as he could be making certain the ICC guidelines are usually not performed with.
It should even be talked about that Indian cricket staff performed with camouflage caps as a mark of tribute to the Pulwama assault martyrs. ESPNcricinfo reviews that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had approached ICC to take permission to play with the ‘particular caps’ within the Ranchi ODI in 2019.
In 2023 World Cup, an argument erupted when Mohammad Rizwan devoted his match-winning knock vs Sri Lanka to ‘brothers and sisters in Gaza’ on social media. Other Pakistan gamers too had posted social media posts supporting Gaza amid the conflict vs Israel. However, ICC had no points with it as all of this was carried out exterior the sector on the private accounts of the cricketers.
