Indian fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was allegedly called ‘brown dog’ and ‘big monkey’ when a section of the crowd targeted him and Jasprit Bumrah with racial abuses during the ongoing Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The development has evoked angry reactions from both current and former Indian cricketers. BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said that he had spoken to Cricket Australia to register an official protest.
Quoting an unnamed BCCI source, news agency PTI reported that Siraj was targeted with racial slurs such as ‘Brown Dog’ and ‘Big Monkey’ while he was fielding at the SCG. “The matter was immediately brought to the notice of on-field umpires. They were constantly abusing Bumrah too,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Jay Shah took to Twitter to inform that he had spoken to Cricket Australia officials, adding that racism had no place in cricket. He wrote, “Racism has no place in our great sport or in any walk of society. I’ve spoken to @CricketAus and they have ensured strict action against the offenders. @BCCI and Cricket Australia stand together. These acts of discrimination will not be tolerated.
@SGanguly99 @ThakurArunS.”
Racism has no place in our great sport or in any walk of society. I’ve spoken to @CricketAus and they have ensured strict action against the offenders. @BCCI and Cricket Australia stand together. These acts of discrimination will not be tolerated. @SGanguly99 @ThakurArunS
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) January 10, 2021
Cricket Australia issued a public apology after the game had to be stopped for 10 minutes on Sunday. Its statement read, “Cricket Australia has launched an investigation in parallel with NSW police into a crowd incident at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday at the conclusion of 86th over of Australia’s second innings.”
We have launched an investigation in parallel with NSW Police following a crowd incident at the SCG today. Full statement ? pic.twitter.com/D7Qu3SenHo
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) January 10, 2021
Indian skipper Virat Kohli too had reacted angrily at the alleged racial abuse targeting fast bowler Mohammed Siraj during the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Earlier, several former and current India cricketers had reacted with horror on the latest incident of racial abuses against Siraj. Among them were Mohammad Shami, Irfan Pathan, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh.
