Irfan Pathan says players from South face taunts in North or West sometimes during domestic matches

Pathan mentioned that he is unaware of incident shared by Daren Sammy during 2014 IPL stint with SRH.

Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy stirred a hornet’s nest when he claimed to face racism during his stint with the Sunrisers Hyderabad side in the 2014 Indian Premier League (IPL). He also said that fellow teammate, Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera were called a racist name during their time.

Now, Irfan Pathan, the former all-rounder from Baroda and India said that players hailing from South India face taunts when they come to northern or western states to play domestic cricket.

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"I have seen that in domestic cricket, some of our brothers who come from South India, when they come to play domestic matches in north or west India, they do sometimes get taunts, generally in first-class matches. You see a smaller crowd and when there is a smaller crowd, there is always one guy who is trying to be a joker, who is trying to be famous. He will just want to direct jibes at players and as a result, he crosses the line," Pathan said.

"I believe in society we need to educate everyone. Elders and family should teach what is right to say and what's not. We need to value the faith and beliefs of others, we can do better by educating kids," Pathan added.

Sammy lost his cool when he learnt the meaning of the word ‘Kalu’, a jibe directed at him during his SRH stint in 2014. "I just learnt what that word 'kalu' meant when I played for Sunrisers in the IPL. They called me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant strong stallion. My previous post tells me something different, and I am angry," Sammy had written in his Instagram story.

Talking about Sammy's revelation, Pathan, who was part of the SRH team in 2014, mentioned that he was unaware of anything that happened.

"If there was something like that, it would have come under our notice. There was no team discussion as such during 2014 IPL, we are not aware of that," Pathan said.

(ANI input)