IPL team Sunrisers denied it, teammates Venugopal Rao, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan rebuffed the allegations levied by former West Indian captain Darren Sammy. BCCI also feigned ignorance on the issue. But now the proof is in public domain that whatever Sammy was alleged is actually true.
Also Read : IPL : BCCI, Sunrisers, teammates ‘rebuff’ Darren Sammy’s claims of ‘racism in IPL’
Ishant Sharma addressed Darren Sammy “Kaalu”
Sammy claimed that he was called Kalu by some of his teammates in a recent video that he posted on Instagram on Monday. He also stated in the video that he got to know the meaning of the word recently in wake of the George Floyd death protests that have been taking place all over the world.
Sammy’s claim can be proved by a picture that was posted by his former SRH teammate Ishant Sharma, who referred to the West Indian as “kaluu” in the caption.
“Me, bhuvi, kaluu and gun sunrisers,” Ishant captioned the picture which has him, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sammy and South Africa’s Dale Steyn in the frame.
Darren Sammy, the former West Indies captain, on Monday called out all those people who used the “degrading” word to address him during his stint with the 2016 IPL champions.
Sammy played for SRH in 2013 and 2014 and revealed that he and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera were called Kalu by some of their teammates.>
“I will be messaging those people who called me by that name, you guys know who you are. I must admit at that time when I was being called that, I didn’t know what it meant, I thought the word meant strong stallion or whatever it is, and I saw no problems because I was ignorant about what it meant.
“But every time I and Thisara Perera was called with that word, there was laughter at that moment. Me being a team man, I thought teammates are happy, so it must be something funny,” Sammy said.
As reported by InsideSport earlier, Sammy’s claims of ‘racism in Indian Premier League’ (IPL) were completely rebuffed by the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) and some of his teammates. Sammy had alleged that he and Thisara Perera was racially abused during his stint with IPL in 2013 but both the franchise and the players have declared they did not have any knowledge of any such incident.
Sunrisers Hyderabad : ’No one reported any such incident’
InsideSport reached out to the Sunrisers Hyderabad management for their take on the entire issue but the franchise based out of Hyderabad showed complete ignorance on the matter.
Also Read: IPL: BCCI has every right to hold IPL if T20 World Cup is postponed…
“No one reported any such incident to us, nor Sammy, Perera or any other player from the franchise”, said one of the senior member from the franchise management.
BCCI : ’Someone should report for us to act’
InsideSport also reached out to BCCI for its reaction on the matter. BCCI treasures Arun Dhummal said BCCI has a zero tolerance policy against racial slur and the board has not come across any such matter as per his knowledge.
“Someone should report for us to act. Also BCCI has zero tolerance policy against any racial slurs. We as an organization always stand for equality for everyone”, said Dhummal
Parthiv Patel : “I don’t think I have heard anyone using those words,”
According to Parthiv Patel, Sammy’s teammate at Sunrisers in 2013 he has never heard anyone using such derogatory words.
“I don’t think I have heard anyone using those (derogatory) words,” wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv, who has played 25 Tests and 38 ODIs for India, told The Telegraph
Former Indian & Sunrisers player Venugopal Rao also denied any knowledge about such incident. Rao who is currently director of the Andhra Cricket Association had shared dressing room with Sammy in 2014 for Sunrisers
“I’m not very sure… Not aware of it,” said Venugopal, now director of the Andhra Cricket Association.
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