Usman Khawaja wears shoes with daughters’ names in 2nd Test after ICC reprimands him

Australia batter Usman Khawaja wore shoes with his daughters’ names on them in the second Test against Pakistan at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Stadium.

Khawaja has been involved in a controversy with the ICC before the start of the Test series. Starting with, the ICC denied the southpaw wearing a shoe with ‘All Lives Are Equal’ written on it.

Protesting the apex board’s decision, Khawaja wore a black armband in the opening Test at the Perth Stadium. Thereafter, the ICC reprimanded him for taking the action.

During this while, the 37-year-old Khawaja made it clear in a press conference that he did not have any ‘hidden agenda’ behind his shoes.

“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 as possible. What I wrote in my shoes was really... I thought about it for a while, what I was going to write. I made sure that I did not want to segregate different parts of the population, religious beliefs and communities. That’s why I’ve kept religion out of this,” Khawaja was quoted as saying.

“I wanted it to be really broad over 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. The reason I’m doing it is because it hit me hard. I told Nick literally just this morning that when I'm looking at my Instagram, and I’m seeing kids, innocent kids, videos of them dying, passing away, that’s what hit me the hardest,” he stated.

At the MCG, the names of Aisha and Ayla, Khawaja’s daughters, were seen on his shoes.

Earlier, Australian skipper Pat Cummins said that Khawaja did not do anything disrespectful by any means. He said that the national team backed the left-handed for “standing up for what he believes”