AUS vs PAK 2nd Test: ICC rejects Usman Khawaja's gesticulation for his support to Palestinians in Gaza

Melbourne: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has declined Australian opener Usman Khawaja's latest gesture to display his support with Palestine victims in Gaza ahead of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan scheduled to start on December 26 here.

Earlier, on Sunday, a picture of a black dove holding an olive branch was spotted on the Khawaja's right shoe, and the backside of his bat during his training session. The left-hand batter on Friday decided to contest the charges of breaching the ICC regulations made by ICC stating, "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. The shoes were for a different matter, I'm happy to say that, but the armband (reprimand) made no sense to me."

"The ICC asked me on 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," Khawaja added.

"I don't have any agendas other than trying to shine a light on what I feel really passionately, really strong about. I'm trying to do it in the most respectful way possible. What I wrote on my shoes was, really I thought about it for a while, what I was going to write. I made sure that I didn't want to segregate different parts of the population, religious beliefs, communities," he added.

"Hence, I kept religion out of this. I want to be really broad in my speaking because I'm talking about humanitarian issues. I'm talking about article one of the Unified Declaration of Human Rights. That is literally the crux of it," Khawaja added.

Australia opener Usman Khawaja has been rebuked by the ICC for wearing a black armband in support of Palestinians in Gaza during the first test of the three-match series against Pakistan. This happened after ICC banned his 'all lives are equal' shoes, with words colored red green, and black, similar to Palestine's flag, ahead of the Perth test.