New Delhi: Pained by the racists remarks and abuses hurled at England all-rounder Moeen Ali, his father condemned the incident and labelled it as ‘disgraceful'.
A large number of Indian fans verbally abused Moeen during the Twenty20 international against England at Edgbaston, perhaps due to his Pakistani heritage or Muslim faith.
Birmingham-born Moeen played down the incident, but his father Munir said: ‘We are very disappointed with what happened.
‘It should have been a special day. Moeen was playing for his country in the city of his birth. It is the city I was born in and the city my mother was born in. The family was looking forward to it and we thought he would get a warm welcome.
‘Instead he was abused from the start. He was abused because he is a Muslim and because of his Pakistan heritage. That is disgraceful.
‘We have experienced so much kindness and goodwill from all communities in recent months, so it is disappointing that some fans let their team down with this behaviour.
‘There is still a problem with racism between Asian communities in the UK.'
Angus Porter, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers Association, admitted his attempt to play down the incident had only inflamed it.
Porter was forced to apologise after his comments early on Tuesday risked repeating the mistake made by football's League Managers Association in the Malky Mackay affair by taking a serious situation too lightly.
Porter had said: ‘His dad offered his view sincerely and I hope it doesn't stoke the fire because he was just standing up for his boy. There is an element of taking it as a compliment. You are more likely to boo someone when you think they are someone to be feared.
‘Take it as a positive, you'd rather be booed than ignored.
‘It shouldn't happen but I have always found Indian supporters respectful so it is a little bit surprising.'
But later Porter added in a statement: ‘I would like to clarify comments I made, which have been interpreted as meaning I do not regard racism as a serious matter.
‘I want to make it clear I believe racist attitudes and behaviour are unacceptable, at any level, in professional cricket, or in any walk of life.'
Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel have also endured booing by Indian fans while playing for England, but nothing like the level of that suffered by Moeen.
Porter's comments and later statement came as the ECB were revealing their long-term plan for engagement with South Asian communities at a function at Westminster.
Clearly those plans do not include the racial abuse of an England cricketer on an English ground, and cricket has a problem if third or fourth generation British Asians feel obliged to attack a cricketer because of where his great-grandfather was born.
