'I've had experienced myself in Sydney before', says Ashwin on racial abuse incident at SCG

Team India's senior statesman, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has condemned the racial abuse by the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), saying that the matter should be dealt with 'iron fist' as both New South Wales (NSW) Police and Cricket Australia (CA) have launched parallel investigations into the matter.

Recalling his past experiences of similar behaviour from the crowd, Ashwin said that this has not been the first time in Australia and definitely not at the SCG. "Look I'd like to point out something. This is my fourth tour to Australia and Sydney especially here we've had a few experiences [racial abuse] even in the past," Ashwin said. 

"I think one or two times, even players have reacted and gotten into trouble in the past and that's not because of the player, it is actually because of the way the crowd has been speaking. Especially the people on the lower tier of the stands, they have been quite nasty and been quite abusive as well.

"But this is one time they've gone one step ahead and used racial abuses. Like we already mentioned, there was an official complaint lodged yesterday and the umpires also mentioned that we must bring it to their notice as it happens on the field. And they'll be able to take action. It's definitely not acceptable in this day and age, we've seen a lot, we've evolved as a society. And sometimes I think this roots back to the upbringing and the way one sees. This must be definitely dealt with an iron fist and we must make sure it doesn't happen again."

This must be dealt with an iron fist and we must make sure it doesn't happen again - @ashwinravi99 on the racial abuses being hurled at India players at the SCG#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Rlv9hMIHVq

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 10, 2021

Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj after complaining to the authorities at the end of the third day's play was hurled abuses by a certain section of the crowd again on the fourth day and immediately informed the on-field umpires about the incident.

NSW Police took the matter into their hands, interviewed a number of spectators and the six of them were evicted from the stands by the ground authorities on their direction. 

"Personally, I think Adelaide and Melbourne wasn't as bad. But like I said, this has been a continuous thing at Sydney," he pointed out. "I've personally experienced this as well. They do tend to get nasty, I don't know why or for what reason. Unless and until it is dealt with, people don't find the necessity to look at it in a different way.

"In fact, I was quite surprised that some sections of the crowd continuously did it and there were not mates around them to pull them up for it. So that was quite surprising as well. It definitely had to be dealt with. And disappointing is actually a very, very mild word I must say," he added.

'Happy that those people were evicted'

Ashwin commended Siraj for bringing up the matter and informing the authorities urgently, mentioning that along with skipper Rahane, vice-captain Rohit, he reported the incident to the umpires on Saturday itself.

"Yesterday, when Siraj brought it up, Ajinkya, Rohit and myself brought it up with the umpires and did report it," Ashwin said. "Nowadays, the guys are better equipped. Even someone like Siraj, who has come in new, he does know that it a line someone can't overstep and it was met the way it should have met. We must say that we were quite happy that those people were evicted.

"If I take myself back to my first tour here in 2011-12, I had no clue what a racial abuse is or how you can be made to feel small in front of so many people and people actually laugh at you, and another set of people laugh along with what is happening. It was quite a.... whenever you stood at the boundary line, you wanted to run another 10 yards in to evade yourself from all these things. But as things have strode on, and we went on more tours, we realised these things are not acceptable."

'We've fought like a warrior'

Talking about the game sitaution and the injuries of Indian team, Ashwin said that wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant will come to bat and added that team has fought like a warrior to every sitation that has been thrown at them in this Test and the series overall.

"Just for clarification, it has already been made clear that Pant will bat in the second innings, he will bat, the bruise he suffered was quite severe and he was in a lot of pain.

As a cricket team, we have not spoken about how things are not going our way. Sometimes they don`t go their way, that`s how the sport is but we refrain from talking about things that are not in our control, we can only do what we can do. I personally feel whatever has been thrown at us, we have responded you know in a warrior type of fashion,"

'Have to play out a good first session'

Finally, talking about their game plan on fifth day as India require 309 runs to win, Ashwin said that they need to win passages of play and important for them to start the day well in the first session.

"Firstly in a Test match, you do not look at the overall score and say to yourself that you will go for the win next day, it does not happen this way, there are passages of play and red-ball format is different, you put yourself in a position in the last session and then there you decide what needs to be done, tomorrow as well, batsmen will step in thinking they can do it.

I cannot say Nathan Lyon will come into play or not, we would like to play all their bowlers on merit and we would not think about a particular individual.""It is very important that we play out a good first session tomorrow, ideally we should look to not lose a wicket in the first session, we are hopeful that Rahane and Pujara will put up a good performance," Ashwin added.