England captain Ben Stokes expresses his disappointment over reports of racist abuse

Several
Indian
supporters
alleged
incidents
of
racial
abuses
from
other
fans
on
the
sidelines
of
the
Edgbaston
Test
that
England
won
by
chasing
a
mammoth
378
and
levelled
the
series
2-2.

“Amazing
week
on
the
pitch
but
really
disappointed
to
hear
reports
of
racist
abuse
at
Edgbaston.
Absolutely
no
place
for
it
in
the
game,”
Stokes
wrote
on
his
Twitter
handle.
“Hope
all
the
fans
at
the
white-ball
series
have
a
brilliant
time
and
create
a
party
atmosphere.
That’s
what
cricket’s
about!!.”

Following
reports
of
racist
abuse
aimed
at
Indian
fans
during
the
fourth
day
of
the
final
Test,
an
investigation
was
launched
by
the
England
and
Wales
Cricket
Board
(ECB)
and
Warwickshire
County
Cricket
Club
into
the
incident.

In
a
slew
of
measures,
Warwickshire
decided
to
deploy
“undercover
football
crowd-style
spotters”
in
the
stadium
at
Edgbaston,
which
will
also
host
the
second
T20I
between
India
and
England,
to
listen
and
report
abusive
behaviour.

Warwickshire
decided
to
take
other
measures,
such
as
increasing
police
presence
at
games
to
handle
incidents
swiftly,
raising
racial
awareness
through
the
Edgbaston
mobile
app,
attaching
QR
code
stickers
on
every
seat
in
the
Eric
Hollies
Stand
linking
people
to
the
app.
English
cricket
has
been
grappling
with
allegations
of
racism
with
multiple
such
cases
being
reported
in
the
last
couple
of
years.

Former
Yorkshire
cricketer
Azeem
Rafiq
had
provided
testimony
to
a
British
parliamentary
committee
last
year
which
led
to
an
investigation
into
claims
of
institutional
racism
at
Yorkshire
and
resulted
in
major
reforms.
Rafiq
also
played
a
role
in
highlighting
the
racist
abuses
in
Edgbaston
by
retweeting
some
of
the
social
media
posts
describing
the
racist
behaviour.

(With
PTI
inputs)