India's captain Ajinkya Rahane on Monday said the racial abuse faced by his teammates Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj during the third Test against Australia in Sydney is not at all acceptable and should not take place anywhere in the world.
The Indian team on Saturday lodged an official complaint after the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground racially abused pacers Bumrah and Siraj on day two and three of the Test.
Rahane said the visitors were very upset with the crowd behaviour.
"See, we have lodged a complaint, officials are looking into the matter now. I spoke to match referee and umpires about what had happened, whatever happened on the field was not acceptable at all, it should not happen anywhere in the world, we were really upset about it," he said.
During the second session of the fourth day, India players huddled in the centre after Siraj, standing at the square leg boundary, complained of abuse after being hit for two consecutive sixes by Cameron Green in his over.
This prompted the security personnel to enter the stands and look for the mischief monger before a group of people was asked to leave the stands.
Local media reported that six people were expelled from the ground by the security during the nearly 10-minute halt in the on-ground proceedings even as the ICC joined the cricketers in condemning the incident.
India batted resiliently through the final day to snatch a remarkable draw in the third Test against Australia, leaving the series tied at 1-1 heading into the final match in Brisbane.
"Especially last five-six overs, we were quite numb. We were counting the number of balls left, apart from that, we all were sure about Ashwin's ability with the bat as to how good he is, Vihari was batting really well throughout the series but he could not get the big scores. Today he showed he can bat really well, our message at tea was to bat one ball at a time and not think too far ahead," said the India skipper.
A hobbling Hanuma Vihari combined with Ravichandran Ashwin to defy Australia's attack in a partnership over the last three hours of the match that kept alive India's hopes of a second successive series triumph Down Under.
The sixth-wicket stand was worth only 62 runs but they kept the Aussie bowlers at bay for 258 deliveries.
