Khawaja has been told by the ICC to keep his humanitarian appeal for the people of Palestine away from the cricket field. He was officially warned for wearing a black armband during the first Test between Australia and Pakistan in Perth.
He wanted to sport a black dove on his shoe and bat in the upcoming Boxing Day Test but even that was rejected by the ICC, and Holding says he is not “surprised” by their stance of “hypocrisy”.
“The ICC regulations say re messaging ‘approval shall not be granted for messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes,” Holding explained.
“So how the f*** people were allowed to take a knee for BLM (Black Lives Matter), and stumps were covered with LGBTQ colors?” Holding questioned while speaking to The Weekend Australian.
Holding argued that the ICC has not made their stance clear.
“If it would have been some other organisation with a consistent track record, I would have been surprised, but not the ICC," he declared.
The fast-bowling legend accused the ICC of being “hypocrite” and have shown again that “they lack spine as a governing body”.
Like Holding, other observers believe that by banning Khawaja's move, as well as his subsequent request to adorn his bat with the peace symbol of a dove holding an olive branch, the ICC has inadvertently boosted his message, while revealing its own hypocrisy.
The tourists chose to bat first, having made six changes from their Test defeat to New Zealand earlier this month, but things did not go well for them as they were reduced to 32-3 and 73-6.
Virat Kohli struggled again and went for just five after being caught by Usman Khawaja. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and number three Devdutt Padikkal were both playing in Australia for the first time and were dismissed for ducks.
Rishabh Pant (37) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) dragged India to a level of respectability before their bowlers tore through the Australian batting lineup.
Jasprit Bumrah (4-17) was India's saviour, producing a spell to leave the hosts 19-3. Nathan McSweeney (10) went on lbw after a review, Khawaja (8) was caught in the slips and Steve Smith was out on his first ball after another lbw.
Both Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh went for a combined total of 17 runs, with Marnus Labuschagne next to go for two off 52 balls. Pat Cummins was the final wicket of the day, meaning Australia finished on 67-7 with Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc at the crease.
Data debrief: Australia and India go wicket crazy
It was undoubtedly a day for the bowlers on the first day in Perth, with 17 wickets being the most to have fallen on the opening day of a Test in Australia since 1952.
While all 10 of Australia's wickets were caught, India managed four dismissals through either bowling their opponent or lbw.
Following his unplayable performance in Perth, Bumrah now has 177 Test wickets for his country and can count himself unlucky not to have had more.
India struggled with the bat and finished their first innings on 150, with Rishabh Pant (37) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) helping them to improve on a poor start.
However, the tourists wrestled back control, leaving Australia on 67-7 at the close of play, thanks to Bumrah's inspired display.
On Friday, 17 wickets fell, the most on the opening day of a Test in Australia since 1952.
He finished on 4-17, leaving Australia 19-3 inside the seventh over as he took Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney and Steve Smith in quick succession.
Starc will start at the crease alongside Alex Carey on day two, and he was impressed by Bumrah's efficiency with the ball.
"So, there's no surprise that he's [Bumrah] been a fantastic bowler across the formats for a long time," Starc said.
"And again, his skills were on show [on Friday] as to how, how good he is. So, yeah, I'm sure there's something in that release point.
"That's significant to his action. It's something a lot of people can't do, so I'm not, I'm certainly not going to go and try it. I'll probably snap."
