Indian test wizard, Cheteshwar Pujara put on a dogged show during the first day-night test match against Australia at Adelaide. However, he was directed to ‘casual racism’ from the former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne during his knock.
Well, Shane Warne, who was doing the commentary during Pujara’s knock, has found himself at the receiving end of criticism and trolling after he made a reference to Cheteshwar Pujara’s one of the nicknames ‘Steve’.
For the unversed, it was recently revealed that the nickname ‘Steve’, which was coined by Shane Warne’s Yorkshire teammates, was a racist term to call the players of color.
On 5th December, former Yorkshire captain Azeem Rafiq had filed a legal complaint against the team for discrimination and racist harassment. Later, Taj Butt and Tony Bowry provided evidence against the club and revealed that the Yorkshire players called Pujara ‘Steve’. He said:
“(There were) continuous references to taxi drivers and restaurant workers when referring to (the) Asian community” He added: “They called every person of colour ‘Steve’. Even (India batsman) Cheteshwar Pujara, who joined as an overseas professional, was called Steve because they could not pronounce his name,”
Even Pujara had earlier revealed that his Yorkshire teammates used to call him ‘Steve’ as they couldn’t pronounce his first name. He revealed:
“Well I would prefer Cheteshwar, but it’s difficult to pronounce so the guys have come up with Steve,”
Meanwhile, the fans are furious over the whole incident and are slamming Shane Warne for calling Cheteshwar Pujara as ‘Steve.’ While Shane Warne shared a laugh with his colleagues after calling Pujara ‘Steve’, the same hasn’t gone down well with the fans. There are many who are asking Warne to apologize to Pujara for disrespecting him on-air.
Here, check out the reactions of Twitterati on this:
https://twitter.com/krizztorpha/status/1339437063679033344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1339437063679033344%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcricketaddictor.com%2Fcricket%2Fshane-warne-slammed-asked-to-apologise-after-reference-to-cheteshwar-pujaras-racist-nickname%2F
Hey @ShaneWarne, the story behind the “Steve” nickname for Pujara.
“They called every person of colour ‘Steve’. Even [India batsman] Cheteshwar Pujara, who joined as an overseas professional, was called Steve because they could not pronounce his name.” This is as of Dec 2020.— Prashant Kondi (@PrasKon) December 17, 2020
Goes on to show what is the importance of reading at least about the sport that earns you bread and butter. @7Cricket commentators @ShaneWarne and others are laughing about Pujara’s nickname ‘Steve’ and I am optimistic that they’re naive about the racist context of that name. https://t.co/yyWbFrqpJI
— Mayank (@kmayank9) December 17, 2020
Referring to Pujara as ‘Steve’ is:
a) unprofessional
b) disrespectful
c) racistLearn to say his name
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) December 17, 2020
Calling Pujara “Steve” because you cannot pronounce his first name is simply racist. #AUSvsIND @ShaneWarne
— someguynamedmo (@broskijo2) December 17, 2020
Appears fox sports aus isn’t aware the nickname of pujura was raised in the recent Yorkshire racial inquest. @MarkHoward03 @ShaneWarne @juniorwaugh349 .. I’ll sit tight for the apology from @FoxCricket @FOXSportsAUS pujara has said it caused offence and hurt him at the time.
— alastair turner (@thedockers2011) December 17, 2020
@FoxCricket commentators calling Pujara as Steve again on air and giggling shows once more how racist these people are. Morons of the highest order! @ShaneWarne @gilly381 @bcci @ICC#AUSvIND #Cricket #Adelaidetest #AUSvsIND #INDvsAUS #INDvAUS #racism #Australia #India
— MoodKaDude (@rajas_alshi) December 17, 2020
