West Indies fast bowling legend Michael Holding has come out in support of Australian opener Usman Khawaja after he was reprimanded by International Cricket Council (ICC) for wearing a black armband for the Pest Test against Pakistan.
ICC charged Khawaja for walking out to bat with black armband after the board banned him from wearing 'All Lives Matter' shoes for the Test series opener against visiting Pakistan in Perth.
Speaking to Western Australian, Holding said that he has been following Khawaja's controversy and not surprised by ICC's decision over shoe row. He slammed at the hypocrisy of the world's governing body of cricket.
"I have been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I’m surprised by the ICC [International Cricket Council] stance.” former West Indies bowler said.
“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.” he added.
Holding questioned ICC's decision to allow to take knee for BLM
Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding questioned the International Cricket Council's decision to permit 'take a knee' for Black Lives Matter before beginning of the match as a cause for humanity, while slamming the board for opposing Khawaja's humanitarian message 'All Lives Are Matter' on shoes.
“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes. So how the f**k people were allowed to take the knee for BLM and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colours?”
As per the regulations by ICC, players cannot display any political, religious, or radical messages while playing in ICC matches. Khawaja not just wore black armband but also taped the message on his shoes for the first Test against Pakistan.
ICC rejects Khawaja's latest gesture ahead of Boxing Day Test
International Cricket Council has yet again come down hard on Usman Khawaja after the board rejected Usman Khawaja's latest gesture to show his solidarity with people of Palestine.
On Sunday, Khawaja trained with a shoe, which had a logo of black dove holding a olive branch. The logo was not only on his shoe but also back of the bat. Cricket Australia gave a green signal to Usman Khawaja but ICC disapproved it.
Both Usman Khawaja and ICC are yet to comment on latest development.
