‘I Find it a Bit Unfair That…’: Usman Khawaja’s Barefoot Interview After His Pro-Palestine Shoes Controversy | WATCH

Following the controversy stirred by the slogans written on Usman Khawaja’s footwear, the Australia batter took the sector within the first Test towards Pakistan on Thursday with a totally different pair of footwear. As acknowledged by captain Pat Cummins, Khawaja didn’t need to escalate the difficulty and thus, determined to not put on the spikes with ‘Freedom is a human right’ and ‘All lives are equal’ written on it.

But what drew everybody’s consideration was his interview with 7Cricket earlier than the beginning of the primary day’s play in Perth. During the interplay with Alison Mitchell, Khawaja was seen barefooted and the image has gone viral on social media.

Speaking with broadcaster Alison Mitchell, Khawaja mentioned he would abide by the ICC legal guidelines but additionally stood by the trigger he raised his voice for.

“I’m a grown man, I can do anything I want, but the ICC will just keep coming down and giving me fines, and at some point, it will detract from the game. I stand by what I said. I’ll stand by it forever. But, I also need to go out there and really concentrate on what I’m doing,” Khawaja mentioned.

The opening batter additional talked about that he would problem the ICC’s resolution of not permitting them to put on footwear with slogans written on them. He known as the transfer ‘unfair’ citing that a number of cases had occurred prior to now however the governing physique didn’t do something about that.

“No, I’ll try to do it as soon as possible, whenever that’s possible. I think there have already been precedents set in the past that ICC have allowed. Precedents said that players have done stuff where ICC hasn’t done anything in the past. So I find it a bit unfair that they have come down on me at this point in time where there have definitely been precedents in the past of similar things,” Khawaja mentioned.

Earlier on Wednesday, Khawaja posted a video on Instagram, stating that he may have agreed to ICC’s regulations about the sporting gear to be donned during a game but is determined to challenge it as the cricketer believes that the slogans written by him on his shoes are not political or taking anyone’s side.

“I’ve noticed what I’ve written on my shoes has caused a little bit of a stir. I won’t say much. I don’t need to. But what I do want is for everyone who did get offended, somehow, is to ask yourself these questions. Is freedom not for everyone? Are all lives not equal?

“To me personally, it doesn’t matter what race, religion, or culture you are. Let’s be honest about it.  If me saying all lives are equal has resulted in people being offended to the point where they’re calling me up and telling me off, well isn’t that the bigger problem? These people obviously don’t believe in what I’ve written, and it’s not just a handful of people. You’d be shocked about how many feel this way,” he added.

The 36-year-old mentioned no matter he written on his footwear wasn’t political nether he takes any facet as he believes all lives are equal.

“What I’ve written on my shoes isn’t political. I’m not taking sides. Human life to me is equal. One Jewish life is equal to one Muslim life is equal to a Hindu life and so on.

“I’m just speaking up for those who don’t have a voice. This is close to my heart. When I see thousands of innocent children dying without any repercussions or remorse, I imagine my two girls.  What if this was them? No one chooses where they’re born. And then I see the world turn their backs on them. My heart can’t take it,” Khawaja additional mentioned.