Shane Warner who is currently doing commentary during the first test between Australia and India has landed himself in trouble. The former cricketer on-air referred to Cheteshwar Pujara as ‘Steve’ after which he was heavily scrutinised on Twitter and users termed him a ‘Racist’. When Pujara was playing county cricket for Yorkshire, Pujara’s teammates gave him the nickname ‘Steve’. Recently it was announced that the name ‘Steve’ was a racist term coined by the players at Yorkshire to call the players of colour. Surprisingly it seems Warne wasn’t aware of the nickname being a racist expression and shared a good laugh with fellow Fox cricket commentators. When Pujara was batting, Warne pointed out that his full name is not easy to pronounce hence his Yorkshire teammates named him ‘Steve’.
The former Aussie cricketer probably seemed to have missed that fact the issue was in the news, and surely not as a joke.This is not the first time that Aussie commentators have made fun about Pujara’s full name. When India last played a Test series Australia back in 2018-19 commentator Kerry O’Keeffe was also slammed for his remarks surrounding the voicing of the batsman’s name. Earlier, former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq had registered a case against county side Yorkshire, claiming he was discriminated against based on race at the club. Following this Later, two former Yorkshire employees, Taj Butt and Tony Bowry had provided evidence against the club which has systematised racism. Butt had said that the Yorkshire players called Pujara Steve.
