Indian players who wore army caps 'politicising' cricket – Pakistan

Pakistan has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take action against Indian cricketers wearing army camouflage-type caps during an ODI against Australia as border tensions continue between the two nuclear-armed nations.

"The world saw that the Indian cricket team wore military caps instead of their own, did ICC not see this?," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was quoted by the local media as saying.

"We think that it is the ICC's responsibility to take notice of this without the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) bringing it up," he said.

Indian cricketers wore the military caps in solidarity with Indian paramilitary police killed in a militant attack in the India-administered Kashmir last month.

Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also slammed the Indian team in a tweet, saying "it's just not Cricket." 

"And if the Indian team will not be stopped, Pak cricket team should wear black bands to remind The World about Indian atrocities in Kashmir," the minister said.

He urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to lodge a formal protest against India with ICC.

'A special cap'

"It's a special cap," Indian captain Virat Kohli said before the third in a five-match one-day series with Australia. "This is to pay respect to the martyrs ... and their families."

He said all the players would donate their fees from the match to a national defence fund to help out the families of defence personnel who die on duty. 

Kohli also urged all Indians to contribute to the fund.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a clip on Twitter of commentators for the match also wearing the caps, signing off the tweet with "#JaiHind", or "Hail India".

A Huffington Post opinion article called the Indian decision "a dangerous sign", adding, "never before has the team worn jingoistic symbols so overtly."

The BCCI has in recent days tried unsuccessfully to isolate Pakistan in the cricketing world. The ICC rejected India's calls to boycott games against Pakistan, whose prime minister is former cricketing hero Imran Khan.

But there are still calls within India for the national team to pull out of a World Cup match against Pakistan in June in England.