FANS EJECTED IN RACE ROW
SIX fans were thrown out of the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday as Cricket Australia launched a probe into alleged racist abuse of Indian players.
Indian fast bowler Mohammed Siraj complained to the umpires on day four of the third Test at the SCG about a section of fans who had said something to him. New South Wales police stepped in and removed them, with a full investigation underway by them and Cricket Australia.
On Saturday, the Indian team had lodged an official complaint after Siraj and fellow quick Jasprit Bumrah complained of hearing racist slurs while fielding near the boundary rope.
“They have been quite nasty, they have been hurling abuse as well, but this is the time they have gone one step ahead and used racial abuse,” said spinning all- rounder Ravi Ashwin.
“There was an official complaint lodged, and the umpires also mentioned it to us that we must bring it to their notice as soon as it happens, on the field, and then they will be able to take action.
“It is definitely not acceptable. This must be definitely dealt with with an iron fist. And we must make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
“I was quite surprised some sections of the crowd continuously did it and there were no mates around them to pull them up for it.”
Cricket Australia promised to take the “strongest measures” against anyone found guilty of vilification.
India’s regular captain Virat Kohli was fined half of his match fee in 2012 for responding to abuse from the SCG crowd by gesturing at them with his middle finger.
Kohli, who returned home after playing in the first Test to attend the birth of his first child, tweeted: “Having gone through many incidents of really pathetic things said on the boundary lines, this is the absolute peak of rowdy behaviour.”