Star Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj, on Thursday, disclosed that amid Racial abuse by the Sydney crowd, on-field umpires offered Team India the option of leaving the third Test midway against Australia at SCG. 

Indian players, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah were racially abused by the section of the crowd on the third and fourth day of the third Test match at SCG, following which umpires and match officials were involved in a lengthy discussion, and the culprits were removed from the stands.

A few drunk supporters took racial jibes at Mohammed Siraj with taunts that were seriously insulting and called him “brown monkey”.The issue was brought to the notice of a senior contingent from the Indian team led by skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who spoke to the two on-field umpires and reported the issue to them.

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Referring to the racial abuse suffered in Australia Mohammed Siraj revealed that the umpires offered them the option to leave the game midway and said that captain Ajinkya Rahane didn’t agree to leave the game. 

“I faced abuses in Australia. The case is going on, let’s see whether I get justice or not. My job was to report the incident to the captain. The umpires offered us to leave the game but Rahane (bhai) said we won’t leave the game. We did no mistake, so we will play,” said Mohammed Siraj during a press conference. 

Mohammed Siraj, who was leading wicket-taker for India in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar trophy, further said the unruly crowd behavior acted as a morale-booster for him during his debut Test series.

“The abuses which I faced in Australia made me mentally stronger. I didn’t let them affect my game,” he said. 

However, after the incident, Cricket Australia offered an unreserved apology over the issue of fans hurling racial abuse towards Indian players on the third and fourth day of the third Test-match and has promised the strongest possible action against those found guilty.

(PTI Inputs)