In a surprising revelation, former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy has actually claimed that he was racially abused in India while playing the Indian Premier League. The two-time T20 World Cup winner started his IPL career in 2013 with Sunrisers Hyderabad and was made the captain of the team in the following year.
In 2015, he was released by Hyderabad, and subsequently signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was then picked up by Kings XI Punjab for the 2017 tournament. Darren Sammy, however, has claimed that he was called Kalu, a racist jibe while he was representing Sunrisers Hyderabad.
He claimed that not only him but Sri Lankan allrounder Thisara Perera was also a victim of those racist chants while they were playing for the Hyderabad-based outfit. Darren Sammy made the revelation in a post on his Instagram story. The allrounder mentioned that he believed that the word meant strong black man, but now as he has realized its true meaning, he is angry.
Darren Sammy responded after watching the recent episode of the ‘Patriot Act’ which talked about the casual racism in the households. It mentioned that members calling dark members of the family ‘Kalu’ is a regular practice.
“I just learnt what that Kalu meant when I played for Sunrisers in the IPL. They called me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant strong Stallion. My previous post tells me something different, and I am angry,” Darren Sammy wrote.
The West Indies star has been very vocal over the protests that have been going on in the USA over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd. He had formally asked the ICC and other cricket boards to raise their voice against racism.
. @ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind. This is not only about America. This happens everyday #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u
— Daren Sammy (@darensammy88) June 2, 2020
