Irfan Pathan refutes racism claims by Darren Sammy in IPL
Xtra Time Web Desk: Former India all rounder Irfan Pathan has rubbished the racism claims by former West Indies captain Darren Sammy during the Indian Premier League (IPL). Sammy claimed that he was a victim of racist remarks during his stint in the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad. Irfan, who also played for the Hyderabad franchise in 2014 isn’t aware of any such thing and that the matter would have been discussed had it happened.
“I was there with him (Sammy) in 2014. I feel had this really happened, the matter would definitely have been discussed. So I’m not aware of such things as nothing was discussed in a larger way,” he told The Telegraph. Not just Pathan, Parthiv Patel and Venugopal Rao - his former teammates - also said they aren't aware about it.
The former T20 World Cup winning West Indies captain, had recently opened up on racism and revealed that he and Thisara Perera were addressed as Kalu during IPL.
“I just learnt what that 'kalu' meant when I played for Sunrisers in the IPL. They call me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant strong Stallion. My previous post tells me something different and I'm angry," he wrote on his Instagram page last week. Sammy represented Sunrisers Hyderabad for two seasons – 2014 and 2015. He played 20 matches for the franchise scoring 282 runs and picking11 wickets. The recent killing of black American George Floyd, has led to huge protests in the United States. It has also seen sports-persons recalling the incidents when they were racially abused.
