Ajinkya Rahane recalls conversation with umpires after Md Siraj was racially abused in SCG Test

India’s tour of Australia, in 2020/21, was a memorable affair for the visitors. While India lost the ODIs, 2-1, they won the T20Is, by the same margin, before the action moved to the four-match Test series Down Under. After a disastrous performance in the first Test, in Adelaide, India was without regular skipper Virat Kohli — who missed the remainder of the series — due to paternity leave, however, Ajinkya Rahane-led India came from behind to win the series 2-1 in a historic fashion.

India battled various obstacles to win the series 2-1. While many regulars got injured, India also faced racial discrimination when Md Siraj was fielding near the boundary ropes during the third and penultimate Test at the SCG, Sydney. Recently, Ajinkya Rahane recalled the conversation he had with the umpires when the situation was blown out of proportion with Siraj being repeatedly racially abused. 

“When Siraj again came to me (on the fourth day), I told the umpires (Paul Reiffel and Paul Wilson) that (they) need to take action and we won’t play till then,” Rahane said as per an ESPNCricinfo report on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Wednesday (June 02).

“The umpires said that you can’t stall the game and can walk out if you want. We said that we are here to play and not sit in the dressing room and insisted on getting the abusers out of the ground. It was important to support our colleague given the situation he had been through. What happened in Sydney was completely wrong,” he opined.

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Rahane further opened up on the big issue of racism and said, “I don’t think it has anything to do with a particular section of people in a particular country. Everywhere people do believe that they belong to a majority sort of a thing and they will have their way. And I think racism is one tip of it, where people believe that is a way of differentiation with someone. The only solution is better parenting and better awareness.”

“Yes, it happened at that ground (SCG) and at that place (Australia) a lot more. But it was courageous of him (Siraj) to bring it up so at least a wider section of people know and the people sitting next to such people in the ground do better next time. It is something one must condemn. But I want to bring it up that everywhere people are differentiating people on different grounds, which is not right,” concluded the Test specialist.

Despite the on-field drama, Siraj was one of India’s top performers in the 2020/21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, He returned with most wickets for the visiting side, ending with 13 scalps.