Cricket Australia (CA) on Sunday confirmed that it has launched an inquiry into the crowd incident that took place on day four of the ongoing Pink Test between India and Australia here at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
"Cricket Australia has launched an investigation in parallel with NSW Police into a crowd incident at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday at the conclusion of the 86th over of Australia's second innings," said CA in an official release.
The Indian team on Saturday lodged an official complaint after the crowd at the SCG racially abused pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj over the second and third day of the ongoing Sydney Test. The crowd did not stop on day four of the ongoing Pink Test as Siraj along with India skipper Ajinkya Rahane had a word with umpire Paul Reiffel regarding the unruly behaviour of the crowd.
Visuals on television indicated that there were some words spoken for Siraj who was fielding near the boundary rope. Both the umpires then had a word with each other and the police then asked a group of men to leave the stand.
As a result, a number of spectators were interviewed by NSW Police and ground officials and subsequently removed from the venue.
Sean Carroll, Cricket Australia's Head of Integrity and Security, said the allegations made by the Indian team would be investigated to their fullest extent.
"The abuse of cricketers by crowd members is not acceptable. We thank the Indian team for their vigilance in reporting today's incident, which we are now in the process of investigating. A number of spectators were interviewed by NSW Police and subsequently removed from the SCG on Sunday afternoon. While we await the outcome of the investigation by NSW Police, CA has launched its own inquiry into the matter," said Carroll in an official statement.
"It is most regrettable that an otherwise excellent Test match contested in tremendous spirit by two friendly rivals has been tarnished by the actions of a small number of spectators over the past two days. As hosts, we once again apologise to the Indian team," the statement added.
India has been set a target of 407 to win the third Test at the SCG. At stumps, Ajinkya Rahane-led side reached the score of 98/2, with Rohit Sharma playing a knock of 52 runs while Shubman Gill scored 31. Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane are currently unbeaten on 9 and 4 respectively and the visitors still need 309 runs to win the match.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
