IND vs AUS | David Warner apologizes to Mohammed Siraj and team India, terms racism "unacceptable"
Explosive Australian opener David Warner has asserted that any form of racism is unacceptable and apologized to Mohammed Siraj and team India who were subjected to abuse in the Sydney Test. He also stated that he's looking forward to play at Gabba and credited India for the drawn SCG Test.
In what is turning out to be one of the most epic India-Australia series of all time, an unfortunate racism incident allegedly surfaced to hog the limelight in the SCG Test. Mohammed Siraj was reportedly called 'brown dog', 'big monkey' and copped a lot of personal abuses in the third Test between India and Australia that too incessantly which finally resulted in the stoppage of play on the fourth day of the game with a few fans being ejected from the stadium. There is also an ongoing investigation in place on the racism incidents reported by team India, which is being closely followed by the cricket world, awaiting its outcome.
David Warner, the senior Australian batsman, has taken a strong stand against racism, calling it unacceptable and also apologized to the Indian fast bowler, Siraj, who has also been his teammate at Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL.
Warner took to Instagram and wrote, "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."
After missing the T20I series and first two Tests due to injury, David Warner was finally back for the SCG Test. But the move backfired badly as he failed in both the innings and looked unfit be it batting or fielding, leaving many questions to be answered from Australian team management. However, Warner is unfazed by all this and expressed his happiness on being back to playing cricket for his country.
"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," he said, reported TOI.
India had the stiff challenge of playing a handful number of overs in the final session of the fourth day and a full fifth day uninterrupted by rain to survive in order to draw the Test, which they did eventually, playing out 131 overs in what was an epic show of grit, resilience, fight and bravery. Warner congratulated the Indian team for a great draw but also stated that he's keenly looking forward to the Gabba Test.
"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," he said.