According to an Australian daily, Indian players were abused by the crowd at Brisbane on the first day of the fourth Test. Quoting a spectator present at the ground, the newspaper has reported that Mohammad Siraj and Washington Sundar were called as ‘grubs’ by the crowd when the duo was fielding at the boundary. There has been no official complaint or any statement from the Indian team so far on this issue. Earlier in the third Test at Sydney, the Indian players had complained about racial abuses being thrown at them and this had led the authorities to remove some spectators from the ground.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted a spectator named Kate who reported about the abuse being thrown at the Indian players. Kate said that the guys behind him have been calling and shouting both Washington and Siraj as ‘grub.’ He said they started targeted at Siraj and it was a chant similar to the SCG one.
Kate suspects that it is not a coincidence that it is Siraj being targeted post the SCG stuff. The spectator noted that at one point, a man in that section was heard yelling, ‘Siraj, give us a wave, give us a wave, give us a wave. Siraj, you bloody grub.’
Earlier in the Test series, Indian pacer Mohammad Siraj complained to the match officials about being abused by the spectators when he was fielding at the boundary line during the third Test at Sydney.
Cricket Australia handled the issue sternly and investigated the matter. The authorities asked a group of men to leave the stands. BCCI officials spoke regarding the issue to Cricket Australia officials and Cricket Australia assured the Indian team that strict action would be taken against the offenders to send out a strong message against racism.
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