Ishant Sharma is under scrutiny after a post from his Instagram account in 2014 has gone viral, where he wrote a degrading remark for Darren Sammy.
On Tuesday, former West Indies captain Darren Sammy posted a five-minute-long video in which he opened up on facing a racist remark during his time at IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The video came roughly a week after he posted a story, writing that he was addressed with the word 'Kalu' while playing for the SRH, adding that he misinterpreted the meaning of the word to be a "stallion."
Hours after Sammy's video, a post from Ishant Sharma started to gain traction where the players of the 2014 side of SRH - Ishant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Darren Sammy and Dale Steyn could be seen posing for the camera.
Ishant posted this picture on May 14, 2014 with caption, "Me, Bhuvi, kaluu and gun sunrisers."
The Indian bowler is since facing significant scrutiny from cricket fans for his potentially racist remark towards the former West Indies cricketer.
Sammy, in his video, had said that the offenders "know who they are."
"I will be messaging those people. You guys know who you are. I must admit, at the time in which I was being called that, I did not know what it meant," he had said.
"I thought it meant strong stallion or whatever it is, and I saw no problems with it because I was ignorant to the fact of what it meant, I thought it meant something else, something uplifting."
The former Windies all-rounder had also said in the video that he was not the only person to face the degrading remark. Another former SRH player, Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera was also addressed with the similar term. (ALSO READ: BCCI wants quick decision on fate of T20 World Cup)
Darren Sammy is one of the many athletes who are voicing their outrage on racial injustice following the death of an African-American citizen in the US. George Floyd, the victim, died after a white police officer put his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, even as he repeatedly said, "I can't breathe."
The incident triggered the 'Black Lives Matter' movement across the country, with many Windies cricketers including Sammy voicing their support. People in the UK also held a march in solidarity with the movement, and Windies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite took part in the same.
