“What I wrote on my shoes[in Perth],I thought about it for a while,” he said on Friday. “I made sure I didn’t want to segregate different parts of the population,religious beliefs and communities. I wanted it to be really broad because I’m speaking about humanitarian issues.

“The reason I’m doing it is because it hit me hard. When I’m looking at my Instagram and seeing innocent kids,videos of them dying,passing away,that’s what hit me the hardest.

“I just imagine my young daughter in my arms ... I get emotional talking about it again. I don’t have any hidden agendas. If anything,this brings up more negativity towards me. I don’t get anything out of this.”

Khawaja’s former teammate Mike Hussey has strongly endorsed Khawaja’s humanitarian stance.

“I think his real authentic self is coming out,” Hussey said at the MCG on Tuesday ahead of the second Test against Pakistan,after beinginducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. “This is who he is. He’s very passionate in his beliefs and his morals and his values. He’s not afraid to put them out there.”

“I’m quite proud of him,actually,” added Hussey,who played with Khawaja for Australia and captained him at the Sydney Thunder. “I don’t think he’s trying to be divisive or political or anything like that. I feel as though he’s taking a humanitarian sort of view on life.

Khawaja was born in Pakistan and moved to Australia with his family as a young child. He is the first Muslim to play cricket for Australia and has had a remarkable late-career resurgence as an opening batsman.

The 37-year-old’s initial attempt to wear messaging on his shoes in Perth without official permission from Cricket Australia or the ICC appears to have created a roadblock for further attempts to spread his message. The writing was in the colours of a Palestinian flag.

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley alluded to this during a press conference at the MCG ahead of the first session of the Boxing Day Test.

“My understanding is the context of the lead in to the Perth Test,and the context of the lead-in to the making of the application[contributed to the ICC’s response],” Hockley said.

The ICC and Khawaja have both declined to comment.

They included Marnus Labuschagne with an eagle on his bat pointing to a Bible verse.

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