Former India fast bowler Dodda Ganesh has revealed he was subject to racist slurs during his playing days but that they did not stop him from playing for the country and his state team, Karnataka.
Dodda Ganesh, who played 4 Tests and an ODI for India after making his debut in 1997, said Abhinav Mukund’s revelation about racism from a couple of years ago made him think about what he went through during his playing days.
Dodda Ganesh went on to play more than 100 Ranji Trophy matches for Karnataka and picked up 365 wickets and scored 2023 runs. Ganesh, 46, retired from competitive cricket in 2007 and went on to taking up coaching stints.
“This story of @mukundabhinav reminded me of the racial jibes I went through in my playing days. Only an Indian legend was witness to it. It only made me strong & didn’t deter me from playing for Ind & ovr 100 mts for Karnataka,” Dodda Ganesh said on social media.
Dodda Ganesh said he did not understand racism back then and that he wishes no Indian go through ‘such ordeal’ in the future.
“Well TBH, I didn’t even know the seriousness of racism back then in the 90s. And there was no platform to express it as well. Hope no Indian in the future goes through such ordeal,” Ganesh said.
This story of @mukundabhinav, reminded me of the racial jibes I went through in my playing days. Only an Indian legend was witness to it. It only made me strong & didn’t deter me from playing for Ind & ovr 100 mts for Karnataka @StarSportsKan
. . pic.twitter.com/ZV8c8YPmpM— | Dodda Ganesh (@doddaganesha) June 3, 2020
The story Ganesh is referring to is Abhinav Mukund’s revelation of the racism that he had to endure during various stages of his career. Mukund, in fact, had opened up about the discrimination during a Test series he was part of in 2017 in Sri Lanka.
Mukund said the post wasn’t about his teammates but that it was targeting at people who were racist.
“With the rise of social media, it has gone to a magnitude that I see people hurling abuses left, right and centre at something I have absolutely no control over. Fair isn’t the only lovely or handsome guys,” Mukund had written.
On Wednesday, Mukund said people should allowed to talk about their experiences of discrimination whenever they want and it has nothing to do with ‘timing’.
Mukund responded to a journalist who had asked why Mukund and Ganesh had not spoken about racism earlier.
“Sir with all due respect I think people should be allowed to talk whenever they are comfortable doing so, it’s not about the timing according to me. In any case I spoke about this in the middle of a test series in Srilanka,” Mukund wrote.
Chris Gayle, Daren Sammy on racism in cricket
The killing of 46-year-old African American man George Floyd during police custody in Minneapolis has triggered a widespread outcry over racial injustice across the world.
West Indies cricketers Daren Sammy and Chris Gayle said racism exists not just in football but also cricket.
“Black lives matter just like any other life. Black people matter, p***k all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the p***k up and stop bringing down your own! I have travelled the globe and experience racial remarks towards me because I am black, believe me, the list goes on.
“Racism is not only in football, it’s in cricket too. Even within teams as a black man, I get the end of the stick. Black and powerful. Black and proud,” Gayle wrote in his Instagram story.
Daren Sammy urged the International Cricket Council and other cricket boards to speak up against racism, saying this is not the time to be silent.
