5 Times when India cricketers were racially abused

1. Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah face the SCG crowd

The Indian bowling line up comprises exceptionally talented players who had to sacrifice a lot of things to represent their country. While a few newspapers appreciate their efforts to beat the quarantine blues and work under the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Australian government, some SCG fans seem unimpressed by their presence. The SCG crowds are well known for their aggressive reception towards the visiting team.

But, this might make way for some legal actions because of few fans who were hurling abuses on the Indian pace bowling duo of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. The two pacers were constantly abused by a certain set of drunk people. The pace bowling duo was called monkeys, wa**er, and they were at the receiving end of abuses by a particular section of the crowd.

After the end of the third day’s play, the stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane spoke to the match officials and the team management lodged a formal complaint. This brings some flashback when Virat Kohli was constantly abused by the SCG crowd in 2011 where he responded with his middle finger.

Presently, the SCG is allowed to host around 12,000 spectators during the Test match. This makes every bit of abuse audible to players as the stadium is not fully packed. Therefore, the abuses to Siraj and Bumrah were audible and the matter has been taken up by Cricket Australia. For a country like Australia, which has a rich cricket culture, this doesn’t look good at all.