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Ahead of the first Test against Australia and Pakistan in Perth, captain Pat Cummins confirmed that opener Usman Khawaja will not sport any written messages on his shoes due to ICC regulations. Khawaja had the messages "Freedom is a human right" and "All lives are equal" written on his boots in the colours of the Palestinian flag in Tuesday's training session.

The opener has been vocal about the human rights violations by Israel in Gaza since the start of the war last month.

Before Cummins's pre-match conference, Cricket Australia released a statement saying, "We support the right of our players to express personal opinions. But the ICC has rules in place which prohibit the display of personal messages which we expect the players to uphold."

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Cummins stated that Khawaja made it clear that he won't be breaching the ICC Code of Conduct which bars players from displaying any message on their jersey or any equipment.

"I spoke to him just quickly and [Khawaja] said he won't be [wearing the statements]. It kind of drew the attention to the ICC rules which I don't know if Uzzie was across beforehand. Uzzie doesn't want to make too big of a fuss. On his shoes he had 'all lives are equal'. I think that's not very divisive. I don't think anyone can really have too many complaints about that," he said.

"I think it's one of our strongest points in our team is that everyone has their own passionate views and individual thoughts and I chatted to Uzzie briefly about it today. And I don't think his intention is to make too big of a fuss, but we support him," he added.

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The ICC regulations are quite specific on what players can and cannot wear, with the restrictions detailed in a 68-page document. Unless previously cleared by their board or the ICC, players are not able to put statements on their clothes or equipment. The rules clearly state that political messages "shall not be granted."

During India's 2019 World Cup campaign, wicketkeeper MS Dhoni was asked to remove the army logo from his wicketkeeping gloves. Dhoni, who holds honorary lieutenant colonel rank in the Indian territorial army, displayed the army's dagger insignia on his gloves during India's opening match against South Africa.

After ICC rejected the Indian cricket board's request to allow the former captain with army insignia gloves, Dhoni removed the army logo from his gloves for the remainder of the tournament.

England's all-rounder Moeen Ali was banned by the ICC in 2014 from wearing wristbands featuring the slogans "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine".

Australia's Sports Minister Anika Wells, however, gave Khawaja her full backing.

"I have always advocated for athletes having the right to a voice and to speak up on matters important to them," she told local media.

"Usman Khawaja is a great athlete and a great Australian. He should have every right to speak up on matters that are important to him.
"He has done so in a peaceful and respectful way. He has done so as an individual and expressed an individual opinion that does not compromise the Australian cricket team's obligations to the ICC."

(With inputs from Reuters)