India vs Aus: Drunk audience racially abuse Indian players, call them ‘monkey, brown dog’

Players from the Indian team were racially abused by drunk spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground, after which the Indian team management filed a complaint with the match officials.

The incident happened on the second and third day of the Pink Test in Sydney when a group of “drunk” spectators hurled racial abuses, including the word “monkey,” at fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. The latter alerted the umpires and the Indian team management regarding the same soon after and the group was immediately identified and removed from the stands. “Siraj was referred to as ‘Brown Dog’ and ‘Big Monkey’ both of which are racist slurs. The matter was immediately brought to the notice of on-field umpires. They were constantly abusing Bumrah too. Actually, the players didn’t want to lose focus during the proceedings and decided that the matter would be reported only after the day’s play was over. However, umpires have told us that moment anything of that nature happens, the players should report immediately,” a BCCI source reportedly informed a news agency.

While Cricket Australia promised the strictest action against the offenders, several cricketers and match officials have condemned the deplorable behaviour of the spectators. Calling the incident absolutely unacceptable, Indian team skipper Virat Kohli said, “Racial abuse is absolutely unacceptable. Having gone through many incidents of really pathetic things said on the boundary Iines, this is the absolute peak of rowdy behaviour. It’s sad to see this happen on the field. The incident needs to be looked at with absolute urgency and seriousness and strict action against the offenders should set things straight for once.”