Khawaja hopeful ICC approves Boxing Day gesture

Usman Khawaja is hopeful the International Cricket Council will give the green light to a proposal for him to make a new gesture advocating for human rights during the Boxing Day Test after he was reprimanded for wearing a black armband last week.

Launching Cricket Australia's Multicultural Action Plan on Friday, chief executive Nick Hockley revealed CA has, in consultation with Khawaja, proposed to the ICC an alternative way for the opener to take a stand on humanitarian issues. 

The ICC blocked Khawaja's attempt to wear shoes with "Freedom is a human right" and "All lives are equal" written on them in the first NRMA Insurance Test against his birth country, Pakistan, last week.

Khawaja wore a black armband in Perth but today said that was due to a "personal bereavement", and not to protest human rights abuses in Palestine.

The 37-year-old, a key figure behind the scenes in shaping CA's push to make the sport more inclusive for south Asian communities, has told Hockley how he has been left shaken by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

At an impassioned press conference at the MCG, Khawaja called on the ICC to be consistent in applying its regulations.

"I don't have any agendas, other than to shine a light on what I feel very passionate and strong about," Khawaja told reporters four days out from the second Test.

"I'm trying to do it in the most respectful way possible. What I wrote on my shoes, I thought about it for a while. I made sure I didn't want to segregate different parts of the population, religious beliefs and community, hence why I kept religion out of this.

"I'm talking about humanitarian issues… That is literally the crux of it.

"The reason I'm doing it is because it hit me hard. I told Nick (Hockley) literally just this morning that when I'm looking at my Instagram, and I see kids, innocent kids, videos of them dying, that's what's hit me the hardest.

"I just imagined my young daughter … I get emotional talking about it right now. For me, that's the reason I'm doing this. I don't have any hidden agendas … I don't get anything out of this. I just feel like it's my responsibility to speak up on this.

"We live in such a beautiful country. I'm blessed to be able to live in Australia, I can walk outside and not have to worry about a thing. My kids can do the same. I just want that for the rest of the world."

The ICC reprimand for Khawaja wearing a black armband in Perth carries no financial or playing penalty.

"Usman displayed a personal message (armband) during the first Test match against Pakistan without seeking the prior approval of Cricket Australia and the ICC to display it, as required in the regulations for personal messages," an ICC spokesperson said.

The ICC's clothing and equipment guidelines for international cricket dictate that "no logo shall be permitted to be displayed on cricket clothing or cricket equipment, other than a national logo, a commercial logo, an event logo, a manufacturer's logo, a player's bat logo, a charity logo or a non-commercial logo as provided in these regulations."

But Khawaja suggested the global governing body had not applied these rules consistently.

"The ICC asked me day two (of the Perth Test) what (the black armband) was for, I told them it was for a personal bereavement. I never ever stated it was for anything else," he said.

"The shoes were for a different matter, I'm happy to say that, but the armband (reprimand) made no sense to me.

"I followed all the regulations and past precedents – guys have put stickers on their bats, names on their shoes, done all sorts of things in the past without ICC approval and never been reprimanded.

"I respect the ICC and all the regulations they have, I will be asking them and contesting them … From my point of view, that consistency hasn't been done yet."

While Hockley backed the ICC for enforcing its rules, he hoped its proposal for Khawaja to express his views in a "unifying" way would now be approved.

"The ICC has rules in place for very good reason and we expect our players to follow and comply with those regulations," he said.

"The work that we've been doing since is to see if there's a really respectful way that is very much unifying, that brings people together, to allow Uzzie to really share his message.

"That's the subject now of ICC consideration … we'll wait to see the outcome of those before going any further."

NRMA Insurance Test series v Pakistan

First Test: Australia won by 360 runs

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG (10.30am AEDT)

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30am AEDT)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi