Cricket Australia (CA) has confirmed that Indian players were subject to racial abuse from the stands.
A report was send to the International Cricket Council (ICC) looking into crowd behavior where from the stands, the Indian players were abused racially. The investigation of this matter remains open as the officials are still looking into it. Sean Carroll, CA’s Head of Integrity and Security, confirmed it.
“CA confirms that members of the Indian cricket team were subjected to racial abuse. CA’s own investigation into the matter remains open, with CCTV footage, ticketing data and interviews with spectators still being analyzed in an attempt to locate those responsible. Spectators who are found to have breached CA’s Anti-Harassment Code face lengthy bans, further sanctions and referral to NSW Police.”
The racial abused on the Indian players happened during the third Test match at Sydney, where Indian pace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj were abused from the stands and the Indian team made an official complaint.
Then again, following the complaint made by India, Mohammad Siraj was abused the following day. The bowler complained to the on-field umpires of continuous racial abuse from which at least six members of the crowd were removed from the stands in the Sydney Cricket Ground on the fourth day after concerns raised by the Indian team over abuse from the crowd.
“As stated at the time of the incident, CA has a zero-tolerance policy towards discriminatory behavior in all forms and, as hosts of the Border-Gavaskar series, apologizes to the Indian men’s cricket team,” Carroll added.
What interesting was that stand-in captain, Ajinkya Rahane, was asked by the umpires to walk off the field. However, the middle-order batsman decided not to and stayed on with immediate action being taken for his players.
CA board are still on the lookout for the real culprits through their investigation.
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