NEWS
Follow UsWeighing on the suspension of England fast bowler Ollie Robinson, former India wicketkeeper-batsman Farokh Engineer has lashed out at UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for supporting Robinson and not backing the ECB for suspending him.
Engineer, who has represented Lancashire in the English County says he too was often subjected to racists remarks during his stint. “I am reading in the papers about Boris Johnson. I think it is absolute rubbish for a prime minister to lend his name to such a statement. Punish the fellow (Robinson). I think the ECB has done absolutely the right thing by suspending him. He has committed an error of judgment, he should pay for it. It will be a deterrent,” Engineer told The Indian Express.
Talking about his stint in County cricket, Engineer said, “When I first came into county cricket, there were question marks like ‘he is from India?’ I did face it (racist comments) once or twice when I joined Lancashire. Nothing very personal, but just because I was from India. It had to do with making fun of my accent. I think my English is better than most Englishmen really, so soon they realised that you don’t mess around with Farokh Engineer," Engineer, a veteran of 46 Tests for India said.
"They got the message. I gave it back to them straightaway. Not only that, I proved myself with my bat and gloves as well. I was simply proud I put India on the map as an ambassador for the country,” he added.
The former India wicketkeeper in a podcast recently recalled how Geoffrey Boycott had referred to them as 'bloody Indians' many times. “Boycott’s comment… well it was a common thing. I don’t want to make an issue about only Boycott. The others, even if they didn’t say it, they thought of it. He was not the only one, there were a few others, including Australians as well," the 83-year-old said.
“We were all ‘bloody Indians’ to them till a few years ago. Now once the IPL started, they are all licking our backsides. It amazes me that just because of the money, they are licking our boots now. But people like me know what their true colours were initially. Now they suddenly changed their tunes. India is a good country to go for a few months and do some television work, if not play and make money.”