AUSTRALIA. Sydney: Around six people were ejected from the stands at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on the fourth day of the third Test match between India and Australia after Mohamad Siraj alerted the umpires and his teammates about the racial abuse from the crowd.
Siraj was fielding at fine leg when the crowd started throwing racial slurs at him. Due to this, he walked out from his fielding position at the start of the 87th over and conveyed the abuses to his teammates and on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Paul Wilson.
The security staff joined the umpires to discuss the matter. Australian police soon entered the stands to identify the people who were allegedly involved. A few minutes later police asked a group of spectators to leave the ground.
Cricket Australia’s (CA) Head of Integrity and Security Sean Carroll said that the allegations made by the Indian team would be investigated by the police and the cricket board.
Cricket Australia’s apology
Meanwhile, the CA officials have issued a statement in which they apologized to the Indian team and assured strict action against the perpetrators who were involved in racial abuse.
The thing began to take a nasty turn from the third day when Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah complained about the racial slur to Captain Ajinkya Rahane and the two on-field umpires. On the fourth day, some of the spectators from the Brewongle Stand at the Randwick End hurled racial slurs at Siraj as well. Siraj immediately rushed to the umpires. He along with Rahane identified the miscreants and the play was stopped for ten minutes. The play finally resumed only when the six people were asked to leave.
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Team India’s response
Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Sunday said that racist abuse from the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground is not new and needs to be dealt with an iron fist. “We have faced racism in Sydney earlier too. It needs to be dealt with an iron fist,” Ashwin told reporters at the post-day press conference. “In 2011, I didn’t know what racism is and how you are made to feel small. And people also join the laugh,” he further added.
