SYDNEY: Cricket Australia (CA) could slap indefinite bans on any fans found to have racially abused the visiting India players during the third Test in Sydney, its interim chief executive Nick Hockley said on Monday.

CA has launched an investigation with New South Wales Police after India bowler Mohammed Siraj’s complaint led to the ejection of six fans from the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday.

“If something has been found, we will act strongly,” Hockley told reporters. “There are sanctions including anything up to not being permitted to coming into any cricket match under Cricket Australia’s jurisdiction for an indefinite period of time.”

The Indian team had lodged an official complaint on Saturday after bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj complained of hearing racist slurs while fielding near the boundary rope.

The governing International Cricket Council said it was ‘incredibly disappointed’ with the incidents at the SCG.

“We have expressed our concern and our regret that Mohammed Siraj felt the need to go and report in the way that he did,” Hockley said. “We also feel pleased that he could feel safe to do that and now we need to let New South Wales police and our team conduct the investigation.”

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2021