Mark Taylor agrees with Usman Khawaja's peace protest, but says the opening batter has "made his point".
Former Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor agrees with Usman Khawaja's peace protest, but says the opening batter has "made his point".
Khawaja is butting heads with the International Cricket Council over his attempts to display peaceful messages on his gear during the Test series against Pakistan.
He was banned from displaying the words "freedom is a human right" and "all lives are equal" on his kit ahead of the first Test.
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He opted to instead wear a black armband, which the ICC also clamped down on.
And in recent days, the ICC has again warned the Aussie opener not to display a dove symbol on his bat as he did during a training session - a symbol of peace in some cultures.
On Monday night Khawaja posted to Instagram a video of several cricketers displaying peace symbols previously, with the caption "sometimes you just gotta laugh" and the words "inconsistent" and "double standards".?
While Taylor is in agreeance with Khawaja's stance on the ongoing Gaza war, the legend can also see it from the ICC's perspective.
"?I think Usman is making a very good point in all the statements he's making, but I think he's actually made his point," Taylor told Nine's Today ahead of the second Test in Melbourne.
"The ICC?, they want to set some boundaries on what players can and can't do. So I can see a little bit of both sides to the story.
"I think any reasonable minded person can see Uzzie is making a very good point.
"I hope it doesn't ?overshadow the game."
Khawaja's teammates have gone into bat for the opener amid his battle with the governing body.
Aussie captain Pat Cummins was at a loss to explain the ICC's issue with the dove symbol.
"I don't know the ins and outs of the application, but I think it is pretty vanilla, a dove," Cummins said on Monday.
"We really support Uzzie, I think he's standing up for what he believes and I think he's doing it really respectfully. All lives are equal and I don't think that's very offensive, and I'd say the same about the dove.
"That's Uzzie. He can hold his head high the way he's gone about it, but there's rules in place, so I believe the ICC have said they're not going to approve that. They make up the rules and you've got to accept it."