The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has started a wave of protests across the globe. Even cricketers have condemned the brutality of the police on black people. Former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy has spoken against this evil issue.
He claimed that he was subjected to racial slurs during his time in the Indian Premier League. According to Sammy, he and Thisara Perera faced racism during their time with the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He and Perera were called Kalu which is a racial word used by Indians.
Former Sunrisers players have reacted to Sammy’s statement. “I don’t think I have heard anyone using those (derogatory) words,” wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv told The Telegraph.
Venugopal Rao also claimed that he wasn’t aware of anything like that. “I’m not very sure… Not aware of it,” said Venugopal.
Irfan Pathan stated that this incident did not happen in the camp.
“I was there with him (Sammy) in 2014. I feel had this really happened, the matter would definitely have been discussed. So I’m not aware of such things as nothing was discussed in a larger way. But at the same time, we need to educate our people because I’ve seen them (racial jibes) in domestic cricket.”
“Some of our cricketers from the south, especially, have faced that in the northern and western parts of the country, though I don’t want to name anyone. What happens is among the crowd, someone tries to act like a jester. It’s not because people are racist, but it’s like someone trying to be popular by saying something seemingly funny that amounts to crossing the line on certain occasions,” Pathan said.