'Bouncer rule was introduced to limit the success of black teams': Daren Sammy makes astonishing racism claim
West Indian all-rounder Daren Sammy has claimed that the bouncer rule in cricket, which limits the number of short balls a bowler can bowl in an over, was introduced to hamper the success of black teams.
The former Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) man claimed that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had no problem with bouncers being bowled when they were done so by white pacers such as Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee.
Speaking on the Inside Out show, Daren Sammy spoke about the changes the ICC implemented to the bouncer rule a short while after the golden generation of West Indian pacers.
“Looking at the Fire in Babylon, looking at when (Jeff) Thomson and (Dennis) Lillee and all these guys were bowling quick and hurting people. Then I watch a black team becoming so dominant and then you see the bouncer rule start to come in and all these things start to come in and I take it, as I understand it, as this is just trying to limit the success a black team could have," said Daren Sammy.
“I might be wrong but that’s how I see it. And the system should not allow that,” he added.
Daren Sammy's fight against racism
Daren Sammy had earlier revealed that members of the SRH team used to call him 'Kalu', a Hindi racial slur directed at people of dark complexion. He stated that he was unaware of the meaning of the word, and asked his teammates to apologise for the same.
Daren Sammy later stated that he had cleared things up with a few of the players, and although the SRH cricketers are yet to be named, an old Instagram post of Ishant Sharma where he had referred to Sammy with the slur resurfaced a while ago.
The bouncer rule in cricket
In 1991, the ICC declared that a bowler would only be allowed to bowl one bouncer per over in Tests, which was further increased to two in 1994.
ODIs allowed only one bouncer per over until the number was increased to two in 2012.
T20Is still allow only one bouncer to be bowled per over.