There seems to be no end to the hostile behavior from the local crowd in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia. Young Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj, who was racially abused by the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), was once again targeted by a section of crowd on the opening day of the fourth and final Test at The Gabba.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Siraj and Washington Sundar – who replaced R Ashwin for the match, were repeatedly labelled ‘grubs’ by a group of fans.
“The guys behind me have been calling – shouting – both Washington and Siraj grubs,” the paper quoted a spectator known as Kate.
“It started targeted at Siraj and it was a chant similar to the SCG one (“Que Shiraz, Shiraz” to the tune of Que Sera, Sera).
On January 9 (Saturday), the Indian team lodged an official complaint after the crowd at the SCG racially abused pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj over the second and third day of the Sydney Test.
India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane called the incident unacceptable saying it should not happen with anybody in any part of the world.
“See, we have lodged a complaint, officials are looking into the matter now. I spoke to match referee and umpires about what had happened, whatever happened on the field was not acceptable at all, it should not happen anywhere in the world, we were really upset about it,” said Rahane during a virtual press conference on Monday.
Despite the complain, there was no end to the incident as even on Day 4 of the Sydney Test, Siraj as well as Rahane had a word with umpire Paul Reiffel regarding the unruly behaviour of the crowd.
