"There's no place for racism, I had to put my foot down" – Ajinkya Rahane on Sydney controversy
Hailed as one of the greatest Test series of all time, the recently concluded India-Australia Test series had its share of controversies with the ugly racism row in Sydney ruling the list.
Reflecting on the incident, Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane recalled how he put his foot down after Mohammed Siraj's complaints and got the abusive miscreants evicted from the stadium.
After the third day's play, the Ajinkya Rahane-led Indian cricket team had complained to the ICC as Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah were targeted with racial abuses.
The taunts continued on the fourth day aimed at Siraj, which led to a brief stoppage in play.
Ajinkya Rahane, who was performing the captaincy duty in the absence of Virat Kohli, stated that 'racial slurs' weren't acceptable and that's where he decided to put this foot down.
"When we go abroad, these instances aren't really uncommon. The thin line between supporting your team and abusing the other is often crossed. So, it's not the first time an Indian team has copped verbal abuse while playing overseas.
"But when you go after colour and things like that - that stuff is not acceptable at all. The players who were standing near the boundary were listening to these abuses. But when the slurs got racial, and Siraj and others came and complained, that's when we decided it's not acceptable. We told the umpires it has to be sorted.
"People will abuse, they will use bad language; these things generally happen. But there's no place for racism. So, when that happened, I had to put my foot down and tell them (umpires) that those people first need to be evicted, and only then we'll start the game," Ajinkya Rahane told Times of India.
The umpires had given the Indian side the option of walking out, but Ajinkya Rahane decided against it.
"I said, 'No, we're not going to walk out. We're here to play cricket and we will. But at the same time, I have to protect my players. You just take those guys out and initiate action, and we can start the game immediately,'" Ajinkya Rahane added.
Six people were evicted from the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) as a result. Investigation for the same is being carried about by Cricket Australia (CA) and the New South Wales (NSW) police.
The apex board of Australian cricket also apologised to the visitors.
It wasn't the first time that an Indian team had been targeted in Sydney. Even Ravichandran Ashwin threw light on the SCG crowd's past behaviour.
We didn't let Australians get under our skin: Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane, who remains undefeated as an Indian captain from five Tests, led the side to a historic 2-1 victory in Australia.
Though he acknowledged that Australia came hard at the oppositions with verbal volleys, Rahane emphasised the importance of backing one's own style and sticking to it.
"When you play Australia in Australia, remember they'll come with everything they've got. They'll come hard. Even in 2018-19, that's what happened. That's the kind of cricket they always play, and we expected that to happen this time too. The trick is to know what kind of cricket you want to play when you land in Australia. You've got to back yourself and your cricket. That's what we did. Then, even if they want to talk or sledge, fine – that's their thing. We didn't allow that to get under our skin," said Ajinkya Rahane, India's only centurion from the Australian tour.
Till the 2018-19 series, India hadn't won a Test series in Australia. Now they have won two back-to-back series down under.