Usman Khawaja's move for daughters amid 'unacceptable' scenes in Boxing Day Test

Barred from displaying a dove symbol and humanitarian words encouraging peace, Usman Khawaja instead wrote the names of his daughters on his shoes on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test. The Aussie opener was blocked by the ICC from using a sticker of a dove on his bat and shoes in the latest twist to the saga surrounding Khawaja.

The ICC told him before the first Test against Pakistan that he couldn't display the words 'all lives are equal' and 'freedom is a human right' on his shoes because of rules around politics, race and religion. He then wanted to put a dove image on his bat as a message of peace, but the ICC barred that as well.

HUGE NEWS: Cricket world erupts over Mike Hussey announcement

'TWO IN A RELATIONSHIP': Mitchell Starc's family move cost him $10m

On Tuesday, Khawaja strode onto the MCG with the words 'Aisha' and 'Ayla' written on his shoes instead - the names of his daughters. The 37-year-old had previously spoken of how his daughters were part of the reason he was taking a stand.

"What I wrote on my shoes, I thought about it for a while," he said before the second Test. "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."

Pakistan ripped over 'unacceptable' scenes in second Test

Khawaja made 42 on Tuesday as Pakistan's decision to bowl first at the MCG didn't exactly pay off. The Aussies crawled to stumps at 3-187 after a rain-interrupted day.

Despite losing almost three hours due to wild weather, Pakistan still managed to send down 66 overs to Australia in front of 62,167 spectators. Marnus Labuschange went to stumps 44 not out from 120 balls, while Travis Head was unbeaten on nine after copping an accidental full toss to the shoulder from Shaheen Afridi.

Pakistan managed to grab the key scalp of Steve Smith for 26, but their day should have been so much better. Khawaja and David Warner put on a 90-run opening stand after Warner was gifted a reprieve in the second over of the match.

Warner nicked a simple chance to Abdullah Shafique at first slip, but he grassed the easy chance. Warner went on to make 38 before he was caught by Babar Azam.

"That's as easy a catch that you'll ever see in Test cricket," Justin Langer said in commentary on the Seven Network. "That's an impossible catch to drop. While he'll feel sick about it, it's not acceptable at international level."

Khawaja was dismissed for 42 after playing a poor shot off Hasan Ali early in the middle session. Warner's 38 runs took him to a total of 18,515 across all formats in his career, taking him past Steve Waugh (18,496) for the second-most runs scored by an Australian in international cricket. Warner still has a long way to go before catching Ricky Ponting's record, who amassed 27,368 runs across his legendary career.

with AAP

Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.