As the captain of Australia cricket team Pat Cummins won the toss and choose to bat against Pakistan in the first Test on Thursday, opening batter Usman Khawaja came out to bat wearing a black armband. The gesture of Khawaja is a mark of solidarity to show solidarity with the people caught in Israel-Hamas conflict. The Pakistan-born batter had earlier planned to wear special shoes with the message "All Lives Are Equal", but was stopped by the International Cricket Council from doing so. As a result, he decided to wear the same shoes, but covered the message with a tape.
However, Khawaja has made his intentions pretty clear with his latest armband gesture for the people stuck in Israel-Palestine conflict.
Watch the it here.
One of the users wrote on X, “Usman Khawaja is wearing a black armband during this test in respect for those suffering in the Middle East. It's a personal choice,” another user wrote. “Respect for Usman Khawaja. He is wearing a black armband for the people who are suffering, as earlier the ICC imposed some restrictions upon him,” and so on.