The 36-year-old wore an armband during the team’s 360-run victory in Perth, which was initially seen as a gesture of support for people in Gaza due to the Israel-Hamas conflict. He intended to wear shoes with handwritten slogans like “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal,” but the ICC rules against messages related to politics, religion, or race prevented it. Khawaja covered the messages with tape and wore the armband, claiming it was for personal bereavement, but the ICC considered it a breach of their clothing and equipment regulations.

“Usman displayed a personal message (armband) during the first 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,” the ICC said late Thursday.

“This is a breach under the category of an ‘other breach’ and the sanction for a first offence is a reprimand.”

Khawaja said he would not wear an ♏armband durin💎g the second Test in Melbourne next week, but remained defiant.

“No, I’m not wearing it again. As I said to the ICC, the armband was for a personal bereavement,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

“The armband was different to my shoes. The shoes were very obvious. At the end of the day I didn’t wear the shoes. I respected the rules and procedures and left it at that.”

He added that being reprimanded for the armband “makes no sense” and pointed to other players who had previously put stickers on their bats and names on their shoes without approval and escaped punishment, urging the ICC to be more consistent.

“I will just be asking and contesting that they (ICC) make it fair for everyone and they have consistency in how they officiate. That’s all I ask for, and from my point of view, that consistency hasn’t been done yet,” he said.