Cricketers on and off the field are after all human beings. With all the world diversified and people of different religion and culture spread across the globe it is rather ridiculous to oppose a person to practice his own beliefs and traditions in their respective places of works be it sports in the form of cricket. However this doesnt seems to go well with the parent organization who for some reason tries to refrain the cricketer from practicing his beliefs in fear of religion taking over the game of cricket.
Many such incidences has happened in the past with the likes of Great Sachin Tendulkar asked to place the Indian Tricolor over the BCCI symbol on his helmet or MS Dhoni to change his wicket keeping gloves due to to its resemblance to the Indian Army. The latest brewing in this topic was when ICC reprimanded Australian left handed opener Usman Khawaja and rejected his appeal to portray a dove with an olive branch on his cricket gear in support to raise an awareness on humanitarian issues.
This was the new addition to the already brewing controversy versus Usman Khawaja where he was reprimanded for his stand on equal rights to all the people and wearing a black armband in support of Gaza in the first test of the ongoing test series vs Australia in Perth.
Khawaja wasn’t allowed to wear shoes with “All lives are equal” and “freedom is a human right” written on them by the ICC during the Test series opener between Australia and Pakistan in Perth.
Though ICC finding it fishy , many current and Ex cricketers came in support of the act conducted by Usman Khawaja on the cricket field.
“I don’t see anything political in being sympathetic to human lives” – Salman Butt supports Usman Khawaja
Former Pakistani opener now cricket expert Salman Butt has come out in support of Australia’s Test opener Usman Khawaja amid the batter’s ongoing conflict with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Khawaja wasn’t allowed to wear shoes with “All lives are equal” and “freedom is a human right” written on them by the ICC during the Test series opener between Australia and Pakistan in Perth. Furthermore, the board rejected the southpaw’s request to have a dove logo with an olive branch on his bat and shoes in the upcoming Boxing Day Test.
Speaking in his latest YouTube video, here’s what Salman Butt spoke about the controversy:
“If the line is ‘All lives matter’, we all should agree with that. It has nothing to do with anything political. If a person of any race or religion is being subjected to injustice, it is condemnable. I don’t see anything political in being sympathetic to human lives.”
It is worth mentioning that Usman Khawaja decided to wear a black armband after the ICC did not allow him to showcase the message on his shoes in support of Gaza during the first Test. However, he was reprimanded by the apex council.
Hence in the world where cricket should be discussed and remembered on the way how exciting matches were to encourage upcoming talents it is disheartening to see how such sentiments hurting controversies takes a front foot rather than the game itself.