Australia’s Usman Khawaja mentioned on Friday {that a} black armband he wore within the first Check in opposition to Pakistan was for a “private bereavement” and never politically motivated, after the star batter was reprimanded by the Worldwide Cricket Council.
The 36-year-old donned the armband through the group’s 360-run victory in Perth, a transfer seen on the time as assist for individuals in Gaza, the place hundreds have been killed.
He had wished to put on sneakers emblazoned with the hand-written slogans “Freedom is a human proper” and “All lives are equal” through the match, saying he had been hit arduous by the Israel-Hamas battle.
However Khawaja, who’s Muslim, was instructed that it flouted ICC guidelines on messages that relate to politics, faith or race.
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He lined the messages with tape and wore the armband.
Khawaja insisted he instructed the ICC through the match that it was for a private bereavement and no hidden which means.
Nonetheless, the ICC mentioned it breached their clothes and gear rules.
“Usman displayed a private message [armband] through the first Check match in opposition to Pakistan with out in search of the prior approval of Cricket Australia and the ICC to show it, as required within the rules for private messages,” the ICC mentioned late on Thursday.
“This can be a breach below the class of an ‘different breach’ and the sanction for a primary offence is a reprimand.”
Khawaja mentioned he wouldn’t put on an armband through the second Check in Melbourne subsequent week, however remained defiant.
“No, I’m not carrying it once more,” he mentioned to reporters in Melbourne. “As I mentioned to the ICC, the armband was for a private bereavement.
“The armband was completely different to my sneakers. The sneakers had been very apparent. On the finish of the day I didn’t put on the sneakers. I revered the principles and procedures and left it at that.”
He added that being reprimanded for the armband “is senseless” and pointed to different gamers who had beforehand put stickers on their bats and names on their sneakers with out approval and escaped punishment, urging the ICC to be extra constant.
“I’ll simply be asking and contesting that they [ICC] make it honest for everybody and so they have consistency in how they officiate. That’s all I ask for, and from my viewpoint, that consistency hasn’t been achieved but,” he mentioned.