Khawaja wears shoes marked with his daughters’ names

On the opening day of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan on Tuesday, Australia‘s opening batter Usman Khawaja wore shoes with the names of his daughters, Aisha and Ayla, written — a move that followed his earlier prohibition from donning footwear featuring a statement on human rights in Gaza.
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An image of the 37-year-old’s shoes, which went viral, displayed the taped names of his daughters on the side during Day 1 of the second Test in Melbourne. Khawaja, who scored 42, had sought approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to display a sticker with a black dove holding an olive branch on his bat and shoes, featuring the words 01:UDHR, referencing Article One of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, the ICC denied this request. During training on Sunday, Khawaja had exhibited the logo on his gear.
Additionally, the ICC prevented Khawaja from wearing shoes with hand-written slogans ‘Freedom is a human right’ and ‘All lives are equal’ in the first Test in Perth, citing violations of rules against messages related to politics, religion or race.
Expressing his frustration on Instagram the day before the Melbourne match, Khawaja posted a message: “Merry Christmas everybody. Sometimes you just gotta laugh. Cya at Boxing Day!” accompanied by the hashtags #inconsistent and #doublestandards.
In the preceding week, Khawaja shared thoughts on how the Israel-Hamas conflict had personally impacted him.
“When I’m looking at my Instagram and seeing innocent kids, videos of them dying, passing away, that’s what hit me the hardest,” he said. “I just imagine my young daughter in my arms … I get emotional talking about it again. I don’t have any hidden agendas.”