Darren Sammy: Discussion on racism in cricket needed | Sport

Former West Indian skipper Darren Sammy said deeper discussions on racism in cricket were needed, following his own experiences with racist abuse during his playing time at the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In January, Sammy revealed that he and Sri Lankan Thisara Perera were racially abused by Sunrisers Hyderabad team-mates during their time with the IPL team in 2013 and 2014.

Sammy said at first he thought the word that was used to refer to him by, "K**u", was a term of endearment and that it meant he was a strong man or a stallion.

But he later learnt that it was a word used by some people in India to degrade black people or people of darker complexion. He said there was always laughter around him whenever that word was repeatedly used.

Social media screenshots also showed a picture posted on Indian paceman Ishant Sharma's verified Instagram account of himself, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sammy and Dale Steyn with the caption: "me, bhuvi, k**uu, gun sunrisers."

In a deep conversation on the ICC's Interviews Inside Out with former Windies bowler-turned commentator Ian Bishop, Sammy said the current #BlackLivesMatter movement, fuelled by George Floyd's death at the hands of a white US policeman, had brought up the pressing need to address racism in the sport.

"It's a needed discussion," he said.

"With all that's happened in the world after the death of George Floyd, it has triggered a revolution, a movement for equality and for people of colour.

"In all of that, one of the videos I watched brought to my realisation that a certain word that was being called to me was something that could be deemed degrading, because of the colour of my skin.

"When I reflect, six or seven years ago, when it was being done, I didn't feel that it was degrading. That was because my understanding of the word was relating to me being a strong stallion - myself and Thisara Perera, who had a similar complexion as myself.

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