Just learnt what it meant, now I’m angry: Darren Sammy says he faced racial comments during IPL

Sammy, who is the only captain to have won the T20 World Cup twice - in 2012 and in 2016 - said he and Sri Lank all-rounder Thisara Perera were called as ‘kalu’ while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

At a time when protests against the alleged killing of African-American George Floyd rocked the US, giving rise to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign, former West Indies captain Darren Sammy made a startling revelation of being subjected to racism in India while playing in the IPL.

Darren-Sammy Sunrisers-Hyderabad with his teammates during IPL(PTI)

Sammy, who is the only captain to have won the T20 World Cup twice - in 2012 and in 2016 - said he and Sri Lank all-rounder Thisara Perera were called as ‘kalu’ while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

“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 wrote on his Instagram page on Saturday.

He did not say when exactly he faced these remarks and by whom.

“Oh so that’s what that meant when they called me and Thisara 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,” said Sammy, who has played 26 matches for SRH in two seasons of IPL in 2013 and 2014.

Sammy’s Instagram post comes a few days after he had urged the ICC to take serious note of racism which exists in the gentleman’s game.

“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,” he had tweeted earlier.

 

Sammy has represented West Indies in 38 Tests, 126 ODIs and 68 T20 Internationals.

“For too long black people have suffered. I’m all the way in St Lucia and I’m frustrated If you see me as a teammate then you see #GeorgeFloyd Can you be part of the change by showing your support. #BlackLivesMatter,” read his earlier tweet.