While scrolling through Ishant Sharma ’s Instagram feed to confirm if he had indeed posted about Darren Sammy what screenshots shared on T...
While scrolling through Ishant Sharma’s Instagram feed to confirm if he had indeed posted about Darren Sammy what screenshots shared on Twitter seemed to indicate (he indeed had), there was another post that was impossible to miss.
First, the now widely-circulated post on May 14, 2014, (a photo of Ishant Sharma with Sunrisers Hyderabad teammates Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Darren Sammy and Dale Steyn) reads: “Me, bhuvi, k***u and gun sunrisers.”
Before that, another post with a photo of Ishant and Sammy on April 19, 2014, with the caption: “One of the best human being (sic) and my close friend of sunrisers!! Darren Sammy.”
The contrast is striking. A senior, well-travelled Indian cricketer, showing his admiration for an international colleague, but soon after, uploading a photo with a nickname that has undeniable racist undertones.
Most likely, Ishant might not have intended malice while he used the term. (It remains to be seen what the response from the Indian cricketer or any of Sammy’s teammates from then is). But the pacer’s post undoubtedly sets a wrong example to his fans (most of his million followers on Instagram could have seen it by now).
And what is abundantly clear is this: Indian cricketers (and perhaps, athletes in general) are in need of an education that extends beyond coaching skills. There is an...
