Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy alleges racist abuse while playing in IPL

Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy has alleged that he was subjected to racial slur, ‘kalu’, while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Sammy also added that he was not alone and Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera was also at the receiving end of the jibe. “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,” Sammy posted on Instagram on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_8457221” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Daren Sammy’s Instagram story[/caption] In his previous post, Sammy wrote, “Oh so that’s what that meant when they called me and @tp_perera kalu in India when we played for Sunrisers. I just thought they were calling me strong black man… I’m more piss (sic) now.” The Sammy story was on an episode of ‘Patriot Act’ which spoke about how ‘kalu’ has been used derogatorily for people of dark complexion in Indian households. [caption id=“attachment_8457211” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Daren Sammy’s Instagram story[/caption] The former Windies skipper has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd. On Tuesday, Sammy had made an appeal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social injustice and 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 every day BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u,” Sammy tweeted. Opening batsman Chris Gayle had also condoled the demise of Floyd and had said that he too has been a victim of racism. The left-handed Gayle said that it’s a myth that racism doesn’t exist in cricket. With inputs from ANI