Cricket South Africa Launches Probe After Spinner Claims Racial Abuse By Indian Fan

South African spinner Imran Tahir has alleged that an Indian fan racially abused him during the country’s fourth one-day cricket match against India on Feb. 10 in Johannesburg. The Cricket South Africa (CSA) has launched an investigation following Tahir’s claims. Social media posts had earlier said that Tahir had a physical altercation with a group of fans and that children were involved in the fracas.

South Africa team manager Mohammed Moosajee said that Tahir was abused while he was carrying out his duties as the 12th man, and that no physical contact took place.

“My understanding from Imran’s perspective is that he was racially and verbally abused by a certain gentleman throughout the match. He reported to stadium security stationed in front of the dressing room and two of the security personnel accompanied him to identify the perpetrator,” said Moosajee, according to PTI. “According to what Imran said, it was an Indian fan,” Moosajee added.

Tahir said that he was abused when he was walking up and down the passageway connecting the dressing room to the field, during breaks in the match. After informing the stadium security, the player went along with two security personnel to identify the fan and remove him from the stadium. There was no physical contact. The CSA has accepted his version of the incident and he is not going to be sanctioned.

“…when he (Tahir) got up there, there was some hostile verbal exchanges. And to neutralize the situation, they removed him from the scene and brought him back to the changing room,” Moosajee said. “So that’s what we’ve been told. There were definitely no (physical) exchanges and no children involved in the incident as has been reported on social media.”

A video of the incident was put up on Facebook and it shows the spinner arguing with a group of fans, one of whom is wearing the Indian blue jersey. The video doesn’t show any physical contact.

South Africa beat India by five wickets in the ODI match that was held at the Wanderers Cricket Ground in Johannesburg on Feb. 10. The Virat Kohli-led Indian team now leads the six-match series 3-1. The fifth one-day will be played in Port Elizabeth on Feb. 13.