Ex-India star accuses teammates of 'Racism', blames it for early international exit
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In one of his interviews, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, a former Indian spinner, revealed several episodes of racism that he felt during his cricketing career. The promising leg-spinner's international career as a cricketer was cut short.
Racism or any other form of discrimination should not be taking place in the game of cricket or any other form of sport. However, such incidents have often been marked in several national teams, like South Africa's.
However, India also has players from around the country, which has people who belong to separate communities and also have a massive difference in their complexion. For example, the wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson, who is dark-toned, helped India to a massive T20 World Cup title.
Sivaramakrishnan revealed his first-ever racism incident
Once widely known as one of India's most promising young leg-spinners, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan could not have a long international career. He had bamboozled the greats like Saleem Malik and Imran Khan in his short international career for India.
However, he pointed out that he not only faltered due to the lack of talent but also failed to progress further due to various reasons, one of which was the constant mental scar left by the incidents of racism from his own teammates.
According to an interview with The Indian Express, the first scar was left when the cricketer first went to join the Indian camp as a net bowler at the age of 14. He had rushed into the changing room at the stadium when a senior Indian batter called out to him and asked him to wipe his shoes.
Stunned by the comment, Sivaramakrishnan recalled: "I just looked at him and said, 'That's none of my business, you just do what you need to do.'"
The player had thought that he was the ground staff at Chepauk. "I didn't know what racism or colour discrimination was. I was just wondering why this man had to react like this," he added.
"Kalia, tera kya hoga?", an Indian star was mocked for his skin colour
The former cricketer from the South of India revealed that the incident was not an isolated one. He had faced such issues in his domestic team, that is, the Tamil Nadu State Cricket team.
He mentioned that he was called out as 'karupa' by his own teammates, which meant 'dark-skinned' in the local language. He also revealed that on occasions when he fielded near the boundary in the grounds of Mumbai, Chandigarh or Jalandhar, the crowd used to acknowledge him as "Kalia, tera kya hoga," mocking his skin colour.
L Sivaramakrishnan has featured in 9 Tests and 16 ODI matches for India. He picked 26 wickets in red-ball cricket and then picked 15 List A wickets as well. He also did not have a very long domestic career, despite his immense talent.
Sunil Gavaskar pacified the young cricketer after a senior Indian player humiliated him
He narrated another incident of racism, where Sivaramakrishnan revealed how one senior Indian player compared the colour of his skin to a cake that was bought by the great Sunil Gavaskar to celebrate the youngster's 17th birthday.
"Hey, Sunny, you ordered the right colour cake. Such a dark chocolate cake for a dark boy," a senior player said, according to Sivaramakrishnan.
"I started crying and refused to cut the cake. Sunil Gavaskar had to pacify me, and then I cut the cake with tears in my eyes," he revealed further.
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