India tour of Australia: Players take part in ‘barefoot circles’ anti-racism gesture

India tour of Australia: Players take part in ‘barefoot circles’ anti-racism gesture

Players of India and Australia took part in the ‘barefoot circles’ anti-racism gesture before the start of the first ODI today at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The gesture is a move to recognize and celebrate the Aborigines of the country of Australia. The gesture has been practiced in the Women’s Big Bash League and the Sheffield Shield.

Recently, it was also announced that the Australian team will be wearing special indigenous jerseys for their T20s against India to recognize Aboriginal heritage. The move was welcomed by the cricketers and fans around the world. Now, the practice of doing the ‘barefoot circles’ at an international match has also drawn praise.

‘We haven’t done enough’ – Pat Cummins

Pat Cummins

Speaking about the decision to do the barefoot circle gesture, Australian vice-captain Pat Cummins had earlier said, “We’ve decided to do the Barefoot Circle. We’re going to look at doing it at the start of each series and it’s a pretty easy decision for us. As soon as you try and learn a little bit about it, it just becomes a really easy decision. Not only as a sport, but we as people are absolutely against racism,” according to ESPNcricinfo

“We can probably put our hands up and say we haven’t done enough in the past and we want to get better, so this is one small thing we’re going to introduce this summer,” Cummins had added.

The right-arm fast bowler further had stated that his team is will do everything possible to know more about the history of the Aborigines in the near future. “In addition, we’re going to try and do a lot of work on our education, we’re going to try and learn as much about our history here in Australia in particular moving forward, and look forward to doing the Barefoot Circle,” he had signed off.

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