Asia

India kneels down, Pak lays hands on heart before showdown

October 24, 2021
Henry Club

India knelt on the world stage. After asking them to bat after Pakistan won the toss, the Indian players did so to lend support to the Black Lives Matter movement. Rohit Sharma And KL Rahul The knee was taken inside the playing area, while the other players did it outside the boundary rope near the dug-out.

Before bowling the first ball, Rohit had a conversation with Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and thereafter gestured to support the movement against racism and discrimination of any kind. The Pakistan players were on their hearts as the two Asian stalwarts made sure their voices were heard on a grand stage.

Was it a one-sided gesture or will India continue to kneel? “We’ve done it for now. Will see in the future,” said a team source Indian Express. The idea was to send out India’s anti-racist stance. England And West Indies also took a knee before their Super 12 opener on Saturday.

Since the death of George Floyd in the United States in 2020, the practice of kneeling has become widespread in sports, mostly football. The English Premier League led and so did the England football team. However, the gesture originally came from American footballer Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the US national anthem before an NFL game in 2016.

Ahead of this year’s Euros, England manager Gareth Southgate confirmed that his players would kneel in every match. Harry Kane and Co. spoke in some respects of ignoring the blessings of a section of fans.

However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) initially banned participants from kneeling at this year’s Olympics, citing Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which prohibits any form of ‘demonstration or political, religious or religious practice’. Prohibits racial propaganda. Later, the ban was lifted and the Great Britain women’s football team took a knee before every game.

The gesture during Euros invited criticism from some politicians by the England men’s football team. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel called it “gesture politics”, but was brushed out by England centre-half Tyrone Mings, while Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho faced racist abuse following England’s defeat in the final. fell.

Mings tweeted, “You’re not going to start the tournament fire by labeling our anti-racism message as ‘gesture politics’ and pretending to be disappointed when it comes to what we’re campaigning against.” does.” , replying to a post by Patel.

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