Indian Players, Siraj And Bumrah Were Subjected To Racial Abuse: Cricket Australia

Cricket Australia confirms the racial abuse incident at SCG during the third Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Doesn’t confirm the identity of the culprits.

Mohammed Siraj informs the on-field Umpire about the incident. (Source: Getty Images)

Indian cricketers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah had complained of racial misconduct from the crowd present at the SCG during the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney. The Indian team had lodged an official complaint about the incident, but still Siraj had to face racial abuse yet again on the third day even after lodging a complaint. Later, Siraj had also told that the Umpires had given captain Rahane an option to leave the field and stop play, which he did not take. But six spectators were asked to leave the ground at the very moment.

After the complaint, Cricket Australia (CA) had promised that they would investigate this matter seriously. Sean Carroll, CA's Head of Integrity and Security, gave an update on the investigation in the case. "CA confirms that members of the Indian cricket team were subjected to racial abuse, CA's own investigation into the matter remains open, with CCTV footage, ticketing data and interviews with spectators still being analyzed in an attempt to locate those responsible. Spectators who are found to have breached CA's Anti-Harassment Code face lengthy bans, further sanctions and referral to NSW Police.”

Read the full statement here:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cricket Australia’s full statement on the abuse, including racial abuse, aimed at the Indian Cricket Team during the Third Test at the SCG. <br><br>‘CA confirms that members of the Indian Cricket Team were subjected to racial abuse’.<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AUSvIND?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#AUSvIND</a> <a href="https://t.co/od4mOWH8cZ" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/od4mOWH8cZ</a></p>&mdash; Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChloeAmandaB/status/1354265451417595904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Even though, the CA confirmed the incident of racial abuse, they did not find the perpetrators. The six people who were asked to leave the stadium were actually not involved in the racial name-calling. The statement read: “CA's investigation concluded that the spectators filmed and/or photographed by the media in the Brewongle Stand concourse at the conclusion of the 86th over on day three of the Test did not engage in racist behavior.”

Now the CA is awaiting response from the New South Wales (NSW) police for their investigation to complete. Until then, no further comment would be made on the matter by CA.

"As stated at the time of the incident, CA has a zero-tolerance policy towards discriminatory behaviour in all forms and, as hosts of the Border-Gavaskar series, apologizes to the Indian men's cricket team," Sean Carroll added.