During the third test match between India and Australia, bowler Mohammed Siraj was called ‘brown dog’ and ‘big monkey’ by some spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground. After the on-field umpires were notified, play was stopped and 6 members of the crowd were evicted. Several Indian cricketers condemned the incident and called the racial abuse unacceptable.
According to The Times of India, cricketer David Warner has now apologized for the unfortunate incident.
India Today quoted him saying,
“It was great to be back out on the park again this week. Was not the ideal result for us but this is what Test cricket is all about. 5 days of tough cricket and well done to our guys for working as hard as we could, congrats to India in the way they fought hard for the draw, and that’s why we love this game, it’s not easy. Move onto Brisbane now for the decider and what a place the Gabba is to play at.”
“I’d also like to say sorry to @mohammedsirajofficial and the Indian team as racism, and abuse is not in any way acceptable or tolerated anywhere at any time, and I would expect better from our home crowd.”
Cricket Australia has tweeted that an official investigation is underway in parallel with NSW police. Earlier, Tim Paine also apologized to R.Ashwin for sledging him on the last day of the match.