Brisbane’s on, but it could have been derailed by racism claims

Word from the Indian camp is Brisbane is on, but the last Test of the tour could easily have been derailed by the unfortunate incidents in Sydney.

Virat Kohli has joined the debate from India, comdeming the alleged racism

Word from the Indian camp is Brisbane is on, but the last Test of the tour could easily have been derailed by the unfortunate incidents in Sydney.

Australian crowds have a poor reputation and it is worse after the events in Sydney.

The Indians are very upset over incidents on Saturday and Sunday and play was halted for 10 minutes on day four when pace bowler Mohammed Siraj reported abuse from the Brewrongle stand.

A video from the third day of the Test purports to have captured somebody yelling “brown dog” to Siraj, but the audio is very unclear.

Nonetheless, it is headline news in the cricket world and beyond.

BBC World Service ran reports of racism and crowd ejections in their bulletins overnight, all the Indian papers are condemning the incident and social media is in flames.

Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have both condemned the behaviour.

“Racial abuse is absolutely unacceptable,” Kohli tweeted from India. “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.”

Kohli flipped the bird to people at the SCG on his first tour in 2011-12.

Ravi Ashwin spoke last night about the abuse he has received in Australia and said he felt belittled by the crowd on the same tour.

“I’d like to point out something, this is my fourth trip to Australia and Sydney, we have had a few experiences in the past,” the senior bowler said.

“I think one or two times the players have reacted and got in trouble and that’s not because of the players this is because the way the crowd has been speaking, especially in the lower tier of the stands.

“They have been quite nasty, they have been hurling abuse, but this time they have gone one step higher and used racial abuse.

“There was an official complaint yesterday and the umpires said we have to bring it to their notice when it happens.

“This is not acceptable in this day and age, we have seen a lot. I think this comes back to upbringing and this must be dealt with with an iron fist. We must make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“Personally I think Adelaide and Melbourne wasn’t as bad. But this has been a continual thing at Sydney, I have personally experienced it as well. They do tend to get nasty, I don’t know for what reason. Until it is dealt with people don’t find it necessary to look at it in a different way.

“I was quite surprised that some sections of the crowd continually did it and there were not mates around them to pull them up. It definitely had to be dealt with, disappointing is a very mild word.

“If I take myself back to my first tour in 2011-12, I had no clue about racial abuse and how you can be made to feel small in front of so many people. And the people actually laugh at you when you get abused, I had no idea what this was about. When I stood at the boundary line you wanted to stand another 10 yards in to keep yourself away from these things.

“Even yesterday when Siraj brought it up, Rahane and myself we all got together and reported it. Nowadays the boys are much better at reporting it, even with Siraj who has come in new, he does know there is a line someone cannot overstep. And even if it is from the boundary line, it must be met the way it was met.”

Tendulkar also tweeted to his disappointment.

“SPORT is meant to UNITE us, not DIVIDE us. Cricket never discriminates. The bat & ball recognises talent of the person holding them — not race, colour, religion or nationality. Those who don’t understand this have NO PLACE in a sporting arena,” he wrote.

Tendulkar (34.9m) and Kohli (39.9m) have an enormous number of followers.

Justin Langer called for all crowds to stop the abuse of visiting players.

“It’s upsetting and disappointing,” he said. “Anyone who knows me, I’ve said for years it’s just one of my greatest pet hates in life that people think they can come to a sporting event whether it’s cricket or any code and pay their money and think they can abuse or say whatever they like. I hated it as a player, I hate it as a coach.

“We’ve seen it in different parts of the world and it’s really sad to see it happen in Australia. There’s been a lot of talk over the last couple of years but it’s sad to see that happen. I think our series so far has been played in such great spirits. It’s been incredible cricket, brilliant to watch on the field, really good spirits between both teams. It’s a shame to see it getting marred by incidents like we’re hearing about today and last night.”