England pacer Ollie Robinson, who made his debut in this ongoing Test series against New Zealand came under the scanner for his racist and sexist tweets from the past. Even though the bowler apologized for his activities, people were still angry about the incident.

Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta addressed this issue on his YouTube channel as he talked about handling these social indecencies at the grassroots level.

“This is where associations who act as the safe-keepers of the sport, like the ECB, BCCI, and ICC, come into play. They will have to get involved at a very grassroots level. Optics and saying things like zero tolerance to racism is very easy. But working at the ground level is the most important thing,” Dasgupta said.

The former wicketkeeper-batsman then went on to provide a practical solution to make cricket and cricketers more responsible.

England could check social media history of future players to avoid incident like Ollie Robinson

“For example, they are grassroots academies where kids are taught how to play the game. But along with that other things need to be taught to them as well because as sportspersons, they are ambassadors of the sport and the nation. It is very important to educate these kids and increase their awareness about racism, sexism, body-shaming, etc,” he said.

The 43-year-old then said every young cricketer that whatever they put up on the social media should be responsibly done so that it cannot hurt them 5-8 years down the line.

“Another thing the upcoming generation needs to understand is that whatever they put up on social media, it is there for perpetuity. Please be mindful of what you do on social media. Be very responsible because whatever you put up right now can come back to bite you 5-8 years down the line,” Dasgupta signed off.

As far as Ollie Robinson is concerned, the pacer is expected to be axed from the team for the second Test against New Zealand at Edgbaston, starting from June 10.

(With WION inputs)