Former West Indies cricketer Michael Holding has voiced his opinion on the ongoing tussle between Usman Khawaja and ICC over the Aussie batter’s support for Palestine.
Speaking to the Weekend Australian, Holding said that he wasn’t surprised with ICC’s verdict.
“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 a knee for BLM (Black Lives Matter), and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colors?” Holding said.
Usman Khawaja had written the slogan ‘All lives are equal’ on his shoes while coming to bat during Australia’s 1st Test against Pakistan at Perth.
With the ICC prohibiting the shoes, Khawaja went on to sport a black armband with the same slogan and also had a sticker on his bat with a reference to article one of the Universal declaration of Human Rights ‘“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Michael also took a hit on ICC for not taking a clear 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.”
ICC have also rejected Khawaja’s application for using a dove logo on his kit which came to the surprise of Aussie skipper Pat Cummins who thought of the idea to be ‘pretty vanilla’.
Also Read:Pat Cummins Backs Teammate Usman Khawaja Over ICC Verdict
