In one of his interviews, former Indian spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan revealed several episodes of racism he felt during his cricket career. This promising leg spinner’s international career as a cricketer was cut short.
There should not be racism or any other form of discrimination in cricket or any other type of sport. However, such incidents have often been seen in many national teams such as South Africa.
However, India also has players from all over the country, from different communities and there is a huge difference in their appearance. For example, wicketkeeper batsman Sanju Samson, who has dark complexion, helped India win the T20 World Cup title.
Sivaramakrishnan reveals his first racism incident
Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, once known as one of India’s most promising young leg spinners, did not have a long international career. He had outwitted great players like Salim Malik and Imran Khan in his short international career for India.
However, he explained that he not only faltered due to lack of talent, but also failed to advance due to various reasons, one of which was persistent mental trauma from incidents of racism by his own peers.
According to an interview with The Indian Express, the first mark was hit when the cricketer first joined the Indian camp as a net bowler at the age of 14. He had gone to the changing room at the stadium when a senior Indian batsman called him and asked him to wipe his shoes.
Sivaramakrishnan, stunned by the comment, recalled: “I just looked at him and said, ‘It’s nothing to do with me, you just do what you need to do.'”
The player thought he was the ground staff of Chepauk. He said, “I didn’t know what racism or color discrimination was. I was just wondering why this guy had to react like that.”
“Kalia, tera kya hoga?”, an Indian star was mocked for her skin color
The former South Indian cricketer revealed that this incident was not an isolated one. He had to face such problems in his home team i.e. Tamil Nadu State Cricket Team.
He mentioned that his own teammates used to call him ‘Karupa’, which means ‘dark’ in the local language. He also revealed that on many occasions when he was fielding near the boundary in the grounds of Mumbai, Chandigarh or Jalandhar, the crowd would mock his skin color and acknowledge him by saying “Kalia, tera kya hoga”.
L Sivaramakrishnan has played 9 Tests and 16 ODIs for India. He took 26 wickets in red-ball cricket and then also took 15 List A wickets. Despite his immense talent, his domestic career did not last very long.
Sunil Gavaskar calms down young cricketer after being insulted by a senior Indian player
He narrated another incident of racism, where Sivaramakrishnan revealed how a senior Indian player compared his skin color to the cake that the great Sunil Gavaskar had bought to celebrate the youngster’s 17th birthday.
According to Sivaramakrishnan, a senior player said, “Hey, Sunny, you ordered the right color cake. Such a dark chocolate cake for a dark boy.”
He further said, “I started crying and refused to cut the cake. Sunil Gavaskar had to calm me down and then I cut the cake with tears in my eyes.”
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