Police monitor the crowd following a complaint by Mohammed Siraj of India about spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Photo / Getty
Police monitor the crowd following a complaint by Mohammed Siraj of India about spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Photo / Getty
An Indian journalist has revealed a shocking exchange with residents at a Sydney apartment building on Saturday night.
Bharat Sundaresan, who works for cricbuzz.com, had just left the SCG on a day where India's complaints of racism in the crowd were first made public when he experienced the issue first-hand.
"I was outside the building in Potts Point where I'm renting an apartment, frantically looking for the keys to scan myself in," he wrote in an article for his website.
"I'd just returned from the SCG and my bag, water bottle and earphones were all spread out over the footpath. As my search continued, the sliding door opened, and a couple walked out of the building.
"But as I smiled and tried to enter, they stopped me with, 'Mate, Uber Eats guys have to wait outside'. I smiled at them and replied, 'I wonder why you'd think that. I know I can pass off as one'. They walked off with no expression as I eventually let myself in."
Police monitor the crowd following a complaint by Mohammed Siraj of India about spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Photo / Getty
Sundaresan was moved to write about his experiences after Indian bowler Siraj Mohammed stopped play at the SCG on Sunday after alleged abuse from the crowd.
He saluted Mohammed for standing up against what he believed was racist abuse.
"I should have done what Siraj did," he wrote. "I should have called out their unwarranted stereotyping. I'm sure it's a stereotype that many people hailing from certain countries have to put up with. Learn from this. Speak up. Don't simply ignore it."
Sundaresan, who authored a book on Indian cricket great MS Dhoni and also works as an umpire for the South Australian Cricket Association, said it wasn't his only experience of racism in Australia.
Bharat Sundaresan's cricket fandom has led him to write a book about MS Dhoni and umpire matches in South Australia. Photo / Twitter
In 2014, three days after landing Down Under, he was called a "terrorist" and asked if he "had a bomb in my backpack" at a pub in late Aussie cricket Phil Hughes' hometown of Macksville.
He also overheard a former cricketer making fun of his surname during a radio appearance this summer.
"I was on a talkback radio show as a guest a month or so back when I overheard a former cricketer, who was the studio guest, making a mockery of my second name and then laughing, blissfully unaware that I could hear all of it," he wrote.
"So when they finally came to me, I made it a point to tell him that Sundaresan if anything was quite a straightforward name to pronounce if one simply focused on each syllable. He not only sounded apologetic but even managed to start saying it right."
