"Should be banned for life"- Michael Hussey condemns racist abuse of Indian players at SCG
Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey has condemned the racial abuse that the Indian players faced at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Hussey wants the authorities to come down hard on the guilty fans and said they should be banned for life from attending cricket games.
According to reports from Cricbuzz, the Indian team management lodged an official complaint after Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj faced racial abuse. ICC has also taken note of the incident, and they too are investigating in the case. Speaking to Fox Cricket, Hussey said that it is terrible that this is still happening in this day & age.
"It's terrible behaviour, and I can't believe it's still happening in this day and age. They should be banned for life from coming to cricket. The Indians have come here to our shores to entertain us, play some great cricket, we should be so grateful that we can watch some live sport. To treat the players like that is unacceptable." said Hussey
The Australian crowd has a reputation of getting under the player's skins. Shane Warne was also critical of the matter and said:
"Disgraceful to be honest, absolutely disgraceful. Should never happen, especially what's happened in the last 12 months or so with everything else around the world. Let's hope they come down heavy and find the culprits."
The Indian team decided to take the matter to the umpires after Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah brought the issue to stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane. It is believed that the team discussed the situation with the coaching staff and decided this kind of incident should not be ignored.
Culprits removed from the SCG on Day 4
A similar incident took place on day four of the Sydney Test. Siraj immediately informed of the racist abuses being hurled at him during the second session of the day to his captain. Following which, umpires and match officials were involved in a lengthy discussion and the culprits were removed from the stands.