Condemning the reported incidents of racism during the ongoing Test between India and Australia, Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli on Sunday said that “racial abuse is absolutely unacceptable”, adding that strict action needs to be taken against the offenders. 

“Racial abuse is absolutely unacceptable. Having gone through many incidents of really pathetic things said on the boundary lines, this is the absolute peak of rowdy behaviour. It’s sad to see this happen on the field,” Kohli wrote on Twitter.

“The incident needs to be looked at with absolute urgency and seriousness and strict action against the offenders should set things straight for once,” the skipper added.

Notably, India filed a complaint after players, including Mohammad Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, were subjected to racial abuse from the crowd on the second and third day of Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The crowd did not stop even on the fourth day, as Siraj along with Ajinkya Rahane had a word with umpire Paul Reiffel regarding the unruly behaviour in the middle of the game.

Siraj, still grieving the death of his father a little over a month ago, was called a “Brown Dog” and “Big Monkey” from the SCG stands, BCCI sources told PTI.

The ICC on Sunday also condemned the incidents of Indian players being subjected to racial abuse by spectators and sought an action taken report from the host country’s cricket board.

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) has strongly condemned reported incidents of racism during the ongoing third Test match between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground and have offered Cricket Australia all necessary support in investigating the incidents,” the apex body said in a statement.

“There is no place for discrimination in our sport and we are incredibly disappointed that a small minority of fans may think that this abhorrent behaviour is acceptable,” ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney asserted.

Under the ICC Anti-Discrimination policy, Australia will now “be required to investigate the issue and provide a report to the ICC on the incident and any action taken to ensure the issue has been dealt with appropriately.”