The topic of Andrew Symonds being subjected to racial abuse was once again at the forefront in the last one-day international of the series at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
An Australian photographer captured on camera certain spectators in the North Stand enacting monkey chants, a complaint that had been first made during the fifth one-dayer at Vadodara last week. The matter was brought to the notice of Chris Broad, the ICC match referee, by the Australian team management, and Broad later confirmed to Cricinfo that action had been taken against the miscreants.
"I saw the photograph and have sent an official report to the ICC," stated Broad. A top security official said that the matter was reported to to the police inside the ground who immediately took action, but failed to confirm if the alleged miscreants were actually evicted from the ground.
Interestingly the incident happened just hours after Sharad Pawar and Creagh O' Connor, respective presidents of BCCI and Cricket Australia issued a joint statement saying there was no place for racism in cricket.
Symonds lasted just one ball in this match, falling to Murali Kartik, but was booed vociferously both during his walks to and from the pitch.
Speaking to the media after the game, Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain, said the team was disappointed that the same behaviour had been repeated at various grounds. "Andrew is hurt at the crowd behaviour but we've been told action has been taken. But some of the stuff that happens is totally unacceptable and leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth. I'm sure there are a lot of people in India that would be embarrassed by the incident."
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