Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj. (Photo: Twitter)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released a strongly worded statement regarding the crowd behaviour in Sydney against the Indian players.

On Saturday (January 9), post stumps on Day 3, the Indian team management lodged a complaint to Match Referee David Boon after two of their pacers – Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj – received racial abuses from the crowd during the third Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). It is reported that a section of the crowd had been at the players over the second and third day of the Pink Test match.

We Are Extremely Disappointed: ICC Reacts To The Racial Abuse By Australian Fans Towards Indian Players
Fans being evicted. Image-Getty.

Despite the spread out of the news of Indian players being subjected to insinuating comments by the crowd, some of the fans continued it on Day 4. Things got really ugly ahead of the tea break.

Mohammed Siraj, asked his captain, Ajinkya Rahane to halt the game as the pacer was being constantly subjected to racists comments by some people in the crowd while fielding at the fine leg boundary. The umpires intervened along with the fourth umpire was on the field.

The NSW police officials at the ground then evicted about half a dozen people from the stadium after Siraj, who is playing just his second Test, bravely decided to take a stand against their racist comments.

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ICC’s statement on the issue

ICC
ICC (Credits: Twitter)

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney has condemned the act and assures cricket fans of an investigation and action to be taken against the culprits. The governing council has released a statement in which it has lent its support to Cricket Australia in their investigation of the serious matter at hand.

“There is no place for discrimination in our sport and we are incredibly disappointed that a small minority of fans may think that this abhorrent behaviour is acceptable. We have a comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Policy in place that Members have to abide by and ensure is adhered to by fans and we welcome the action taken by ground authorities and Cricket Australia today,” said a statement by the ICC.

“We will provide Cricket Australia and the relevant authorities with our full support in any ensuing investigation as we will not tolerate any racism in our sport.”

Under the ICC Anti-Discrimination policy, Cricket Australia is obliged to initiate a thorough investigation of the events at the SCG over the course of the Test match – as the Indians have complained about the abuses in the previous days as well – and provide a report for the same to the ICC.

Kerrie Mather, Venues NSW’s Chief Executive, has revealed that the CCTV footage was being reviewed to assist the investigation.

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