Ollie Robinson Opened Up About His Old Racist Tweets After End of Play on Day 3 Against India

Ollie Robinson stated that he has grown as a person over time after being recently embroiled in a racism controversy that threatened to mar his short career for England. The pacer was handed a suspension from all forms of cricket by the England and Wales Cricket Board for his controversial racist tweets almost eight years ago.

He made a comeback to the side against India in the first Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. It was a sweet day 3 in the office for the tall pacer, as he claimed his maiden five-for while restricting India to 278-all out. He accounted for Rohit Sharma in the morning session on Day 2 before coming back to clean up the lower-middle order to end up with figures of 5/85.

A couple of months ago, during his debut at Lord’s against New Zealand, Robinson’s tweets as an 18-year-old resurfaced. They were deemed to be offensive and racist, which resulted in a widespread call for his axing. Talking about how he has become a better person since then, Robinson said:

“I was young 18-19 years old. I made a lot of mistakes, not just those tweets. I’ve grown as a person a lot in that time. Obviously, I’ve learned a lot try to develop as a person in the last 10 years. I try to make myself the best person I can be. It was the toughest period in my life. It affected myself and my family but I’ve learned a lot since then.”

“It was quite tough and to get the rewards, in the end, was pleasing” – Ollie Robinson

Having worked out the English pacers in a tough morning session on Day 2, Rohit Sharma was dismissed playing the pull shot off Robinson. This triggered a collapse for India as they went from 97/0 to 112/4. The rain then intervened to cut short the day’s play.

On Day 3, overnight batsmen KL Rahul (57*) and Rishabh Pant (7*) were coming back into action. While the former played a watchful knock, the latter went about playing his natural game. It brought about his downfall, but late lower-order resistance from Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah saw India take a handy lead of 95.

“It was quite tough and to get the rewards, in the end, was pleasing,” he said.

England openers saw a tough phase after Tea before rain intervened again with the day’s play being called off with the hosts on 25/0. They trail India by 70 runs in the second innings.