Why Is Usman Khawaja Sporting Black Armband After ICC's Ban On His 'All Lives Are Equal' Shoes? Read Here

Usman Khawaja was born in Pakistan. His family moved to Australia for work. He started his cricket in Australia and went on to represent the country. Khawaja has raises his voice against war in Palestine.

Usman Khawaja. (Image: X)

Usman Khawaja, the Pakistan-born opening batter of Australian cricket, was seen playing with a black armband on his shoulder during the first Test against Pakistan at Perth. This was Khawaja's way of protesting against International Cricket Council (ICC)'s ban on his shoes that has 'All Lives Are Equal' slogan. Khawaja wanted to show his solidarity with the people in Palestine who are losing their lives every day during the ongoing war with Israel.

Khawaja also wore the black armband to show solidarity with the Palestinians caught up in the conflict in Gaza. The cricketer wanted to bat with his 'peace message' on his shoes during the 1st Test. However, ICC stopped him from doing that as the clothing and equipment law does not allow cricketers to write anything on their gears apart from pre-approved matter. Cricketers or the boards need to take permission from ICC to allow any change. 

Khawaja vows to keep his fight up as he has spoken up on seeking permission to wear the same controversial shoes in the Boxing day Test against Pakistan.

ICC banned Usman Khawaja to wear those shoes but Uzi is wearing black armband today. #AUSvsPAK pic.twitter.com/cnTL8fjPtw

— Ahmad Haseeb (@iamAhmadhaseeb) December 14, 2023

He posted a video on his social media handles in which he said that a lot of people are against his stand of propagating the peaceful message, terming it 'political'. Khawaja said that all he wants to say that he is supporting all lives.

Khawaja said that he supports Black Lives Matter, before adding that many cricketers have written slogans on their shoes before.

"I'm in full support of Black Lives Matter. There's plenty of guys who have written on their shoes before," Khawaja told Fox Sports. "There's other guys that have written religious things on their equipment, and under the ICC guidelines, that's not technically allowed, but the ICC never says anything on that. I find it a little bit disappointing they came down hard on me and they don't always come down hard on everyone else."

Australian captain Pat Cummins has also backed his teammate Khawaja amid the controversy. After informing that Khawaja is not wearing the 'shoes', Cummins said that I support what is written on the shoes.

"You want everyone to bring their own individual self to the team. And what was on the shoes — all lives are equal — I mean, I support that," Cummins said on Thursday.

"I think that's not very divisive. I don't think anyone can really have too many complaints about that," Cummins had said.