Australia opener Usman Khawaja has been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for breaching the regulations as he wore a black armband in the first Test against Pakistan in Perth without getting approval from the apex cricket board.
Khawaja was not allowed to wear the shoes he sported during training with "all lives are equal" and "freedom is a human right" messages to support Gaza.
"Usman Khawaja has been charged for breaching Clause F of the Clothing and Equipment Regulations, which can be found on the ICC Playing Conditions page. The sanctions for a breach of the regulations are outlined in Appendix 2," an ICC spokesperson said.
"Usman displayed a personal message (arm band) during the 1st Test Match against Pakistan without seeking the prior approval of Cricket Australia and the ICC to display it, as required in the regulations for personal messages. This is a breach under the category of an "other breach" and the sanction for a first offence is a reprimand," the statement added.
Khawaja contributed with scores of 41 and 90 in the first and second innings respectively against the Shan Masood-led side in the series opener. Australia beat Pakistan by a big margin of 360 runs.
The ICC's clothing and equipment regulations state: "Players and team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey personal messages on their clothing, equipment or otherwise, irrespective of whether such messages are affixed to clothing, equipment or otherwise and whether such messages are displayed or conveyed through the use of the specific clothing or other items (eg. an arm band) or by the use of words, symbol, graphic message, images or otherwise ('personal messages'), unless approved in advance by both the player or team official's board and the ICC Cricket Operations Department. Approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes."
Despite the sanction, Khawaja is not doubtful for the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The 37-year-old is likely to make a statement on December 22 as Australia begin their preparations for the second Test of the series.
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