IND vs AUS: Sydney crowd hurl racist slurs at Indian cricketers

Ravichandran Ashwin

Seasoned off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Sunday said racist abuse from the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground is not new and needs to be dealt with an iron fist after some spectators were asked to leave for targetting Indian players during the ongoing third Test against Australia here.

Speaking at the end of the fourth day's play, Ashwin said that Indian players have faced racism in Sydney earlier too and "disappointment" will be a "mild word" to describe how they are feeling after young pacer Mohammed Siraj was subjected to racial slurs on two consecutive days. Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah were allegedly called "Brown Dog" and "Big Monkey."

"This is my fourth tour to Australia, and particularly in Sydney we've had a few experiences in the past too," Ashwin said at the online press conference. Without naming skipper Virat Kohli, Ashwin recalled an incident where he was photographed showing his middle finger in 2011 after being constantly abused by a section of the crowd: "One or two times, the players who have reacted and have got into trouble."

Local media reported that six people were expelled from the SCG during on Day 4 of the ongoing Test. On Saturday, the BCCI lodged a complaint with the ICC. "They have been quite nasty and have been hurling abuses. But this time they have gone one step ahead and used racial abuses. This roots back to upbringing and needs to be dealt with iron fists to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Ashwin said that the team didn't face any racism at Adelaide and Melbourne. "This has been a continuous thing at Sydney. I personally experienced it as well," said Ashwin going on to narrate his experiences on previous tours. "On my first tour of 2011-12, I had no clue about racial abuse and how you were made to feel small in front of people and they laugh at you. When you stood at the boundary, you wanted to come inside 10 yards to avoid these things. So when Siraj brought it up, Ajinkya [Rahane], Rohit [Sharma] and myself got together and reported it to the umpires. We're quite happy that these people were evicted," concluded Ashwin.

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