During the Sydney Test in the year 2020-21, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah were racially abused by the spectators. It has been almost a year and a half since this incident happened, but the memories and its wounds are still fresh. Ajinkya Rahane, who took charge of Team India in that series against Australia in the absence of Virat Kohli, has said that we had demanded that the abusers should be thrown out of the field, but the response of the umpires was quite surprising.
After play on the third day of that New Year’s Day Test had ended, the Indian players had spoken to the match officials about the misbehavior they had been subjected to, but as it continued the next morning, the Indians warned the umpires. Play was halted for ten minutes and play resumed after a group of people were evicted from the stands.
Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, Ajinkya Rahane revealed that umpires Paul Reiffel and Paul Wilson had told them to return to the dressing room if they didn’t want to play, but the Indian team insisted on taking out the spectators and continuing the Test match. . Ajinkya Rahane said, ‘When Siraj (Mohammed Siraj) came to me again (after abusing the day before, on the fourth day of the match) I told the umpires that they need to act and we will not play till then. ‘ The documentary ‘Bandon Mein Tha Dum’ made on that series was launched during an event in Mumbai on June 1, 2022.
Ajinkya Rahane said, ‘The umpires said that you cannot stop the game. You can walk out if you want. We said that we have come here to play and not to sit in the dressing room. We insisted on throwing the abusers out of the field. Considering the situation he (Siraj) went through, it was necessary to support our colleague. What happened in Sydney was completely wrong.
In that Test match, Ravichandran Ashwin along with Hanuma Vihari showed a brave game with the bat. Ashwin said after the match, ‘Personally I think Adelaide and Melbourne were not that bad. But this has been happening consistently in Sydney. I have experienced this too. They (Australians) get screwed.’
During a discussion on racism in sports, Ashwin said on Wednesday, ‘I don’t think it has anything to do with a particular section of people from a particular country. People everywhere believe that they are the majority and have their own way. I think racism is just one end of it, where people believe it is a way to discriminate against someone. The only solution is better parenting and better awareness.
Ashwin said, ‘Yes, it happened in that ground (Sydney Cricket Ground) and many more in that country (Australia). But it was his (Siraj) courage to overcome it. Ashwin said, “It (racism) is something that should be condemned. But I want to point out that everywhere people are separating people on different grounds, which is not right.