Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
Former opener Gautam Gambhir has called for tougher laws against racial abuses in and around plat fields and stadiums.
Gambhir who at present is Lok Sabha member opined on Star Sports show Cricket Connected, that racial abuses and slurs “happen a lot, especially in places like Australia and South Africa”, and that is not acceptable,
He said there needs to be stricter laws so that such incidents do not take place in any sport, “[It’s] very unfortunate and that is something which is absolutely not acceptable in any sport. Not only cricket, but in any sport and that’s where I think there need to be stricter laws. When it happens to a certain player, it is only that individual who feels about it,”
“You do get abused, in places like South Africa, Australia, when you are playing in a Boxing Day Test match and that kind of stuff as well. But then, you got to accept that, but it depends what kind of an abuse that is and what all has been said to you. ” he said
That is something which is not acceptable, especially on your colour of skin and the abuse as well. It does happen a lot, especially in places like Australia and South Africa. So, these things need to be stopped,” he said.
He lavished praise on Indian team for their gritty performance against Australia in the third test which ended in a draw in Sydney saying it “probably as big as winning in Australia”.
“Unbelievable! That just shows the character of the team as well. Rishabh Pant batted really well. Obviously, he batted the way he should’ve batted; he backed his strengths and he lived by the sword and you die by it . Yes, people might just say that there was no need to play that shot, but he kept playing and kept India in the game,” .
“Had he batted a bit more longer India could have actually gone on to win the Test match, which probably would have been the most historic win ever. On the other side, when we talk about Cheteshwar Pujara, you can talk as much as you can and as much as you want about his strike-rate, but there are very few batters going around in world cricket who can actually play time and session and he’s one of them,”
“You can actually go on to win the series as well if you play good cricket, probably in the fourth Test match and you can come back winning the series which is again going to be historic,” he added.