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Australia captain Pat Cummins said that Usman Khawaja can 'hold his head high' despite the recent controversy he has been involved in. Before the first Test against Pakistan at Perth Stadium, the ICC did not permit Khawaja to wear a shoe with 'All Lives Are Equal' written on it.
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In protest, Khawaja protested by wearing a black armband during the match. Thereafter, the International Cricket Council (ICC) reprimanded him. Cummins expressed that Khawaja conducted himself in a 'respectful' manner and refrained from resorting to unfair means.
"We really support Uzzy. He's standing up for what he believes, and I think he's done it really respectfully," Cummins told the reporters before the second Test.
"As I said last week, 'All lives are equal', I don't think that's very offensive, and I'd say the same about the dove," he stated.
"That's Uzzy. I think he can really hold his head high with the way he's gone about it," Cummins added.
Earlier, Khawaja said that he had no specific 'agenda' when expressing the desire to wear the shoes with the message 'All Lives Are Equal.'
"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 had said.
In the first Test, the 37-year-old Khawaja posted scores of 41 and 90 before being dismissed by left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi in both innings.
Following a 360-run victory in the first Test, Australia aim to maintain momentum in the second Test, scheduled to commence on December 26 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
(Powered by AI, Inputs by India Today)
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