Veteran Australia batter Usman Khawaja indirectly accused the International Cricket Council (ICC) of their ‘double standards’ for rejecting his appeal to portray a dove with an olive branch on his cricket gear to raise awareness on humanitarian issues as well. He shared a Christmas post on Instagram with the hashtags #inconsistent and #doublestandards. It also included a snapshot of the ICC’s rules against political and religious messages, alongside photos of Nicholas Pooran, Marnus Labuschagne and Keshav Maharaj with various religious symbols on their bats as well.
Pooran plays with a bat that has a Christian cross on it. Labuschagne shows the symbol of an eagle, which represents a verse from the Bible as well, whereas Maharaj has often batted with the Hindu symbol of ‘OM’ on his willow as well.
“Merry Christmas everybody 🎄🤣. Sometimes you just gotta laugh. Cya at Boxing Day! 🙏🏾 #inconsistent #doublestandards🤦🏻”, Khawaja wrote in his Instagram post.
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However, the dove with an olive branch is a common symbol of peace in Western and Judeo-Christian culture as well. He proposed to use it on his bat and shoes after being reprimanded by the ICC for showing slogans with “all lives are equal” and “freedom is a human right” on his shoes during the first Test against Pakistan as well.
Meanwhile, former West Indies cricketer Michael Holding slammed the ICC for hypocrisy as well. He also asked why the organisation allowed cricketers to take a knee in support of the BLM during the 2021 T20 World Cup and rejected Khawaja’s messaging as well.
“I have been following the Khawaja fiasco and I cannot say I’m surprised by the ICC’s stance,” Holding told The Weekend Australian.”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. 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*** people were allowed to take the knee for BLM and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colours?” he further asked.
