‘Yes I am dark’, says former Indian cricketer Laxman Sivaramakrishnan after X user mocks skin colour

Former Indian spinner and commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan hit out at an X user after facing a racist remark over a photo he had posted on the micro-blogging platform.

Sivaramakrishnan had posted a photo of him in X (formerly known as Twitter) with an elephant and wrote, “50th year of Ayyappan temple today. Mahalingapuram. Great celebration.”

He received an array of comments, some mocking his skin colour while others expressed their happiness for seeing him. A user commented, “Hii sir that elephant is more visible in night than you.”

To which the leg spinner bluntly responded, writing: “Yes, I am dark.”

Responding to another X user who mocked his skin colour and abused him, he said, “Thumuru baap angreerez hoga (Your father must be British).”

In 2021, reacting to a Twitter post that hinted at online trolling faced by commentators, Sivaramakrishnan, said, “The issue of colour discrimination is not new in cricket. I too faced it in life, in my own country.”

“I have been criticised and colour discriminated all my life, so it doesn’t bother me anymore. This, unfortunately, happens in our own country,” he tweeted.

Popularly known as “Siva” and LS, Sivaramakrishnan has played nine Tests and 16 ODIs for India. He had been a part of the Indian squad that won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.

He began his commentary career in a test match between India and Bangladesh on November 12, 2000 and further serves as one of the players’ representatives on the International Cricket Council’s cricket committee.

There should be no place for racism in art