Asserting that racism has no place in cricket, BCCI President Sharad Pawar and his Australian counterpart Creagh O'Connor on Wednesday issued a joint statement, vowing to stand by the ICC Anti-Racism Code.
The Ricky Ponting-led Australian team has alleged that star all-rounder Andrew Symonds had been subjected to racial abuse in the last two ODIs at Vadodara and Nagpur but local authorities and the BCCI have disputed the claim.
In the joint statement too, Pawar did not confirm the veracity of the claims and joined O'Connor to say that racism has no place in cricket, on or off the field.
They said racism was not confined to any particular country but was a global problem.
"Cricket crowds in all cricket nations are often noisy and boisterous, which is part of the fun of cricket," they said.
"But all cricket nations have to be on guard to ensure that the fun does not cross the boundary into unacceptable behaviour.
BCCI, CA condemn racism in cricket
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