The Indian cricket team is currently playing against Australia and figured it would be a show of solidarity by wearing army caps during the ODI, as they pay tribute to the victims of Pulwama incident and the Indian army. However, during all this, they failed to realise that they were breaching ICC rules in the unprecedented move.
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The rule is as follows:
‘Players and team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey personal messages through arm bands or items affixed to clothing or equipment (“Personal Messages”) unless approved in advance by both the player or team official’s Board and ICC Cricket Operations Department. Approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to religious, political or racial activities or causes.’ The code of conduct further reads, “The ICC shall have the final say in determining whether any such message is approved. For the avoidance of doubt, where a message is approved by the player or team official’s Board but subsequently disapproved by the ICC Cricket Operations Department, the player or team officials shall not be permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey such message in International matches.”
It remains to be seen whether ICC takes notice of the action, and have been duly noted of by the Pakistan Cricket Board who demand action to be taken against BCCI for politicising the sport. “It’s just not Cricket,” Chaudhry tweeted in the evening, adding that by wearing the caps, the Indian team had politicised the Gentleman’s Game.And if the Indian team does not stop wearing the caps, the Pakistan team “should [also] wear black bands to remind The World about Indian atrocities in Kashmir.
The development comes as Pakistan and India reel from two weeks of high tension which had raised fears of an all-out war. The situation de-escalated after Pakistan released an Indian pilot who was captured after his plane was shot down for violating Pakistani airspace.
