Former Indian cricketer Hemang Badani slams racism against him through post on Twitter

Racism is one of the biggest enemies known to mankind and sports hasn't been untouched by it. For long, sportspersons around the world have been raising their voice against racial discriminations and former Indian cricketer Hemang Badani recently joined that ever-increasing list.

Badani slammed racism against him through a post on Twitter saying that he has been called 'Setu' all his life. 'Setu' or 'Settu' or 'Sedu' is a Tamil slang which is used to refer the Marwaris or people from North India in and around Chennai. While some don't take the term seriously when they are referred to as 'Setu', the term does take a dig at their community.

Further expanding on the matter, Badani, who has played four Test matches and 40 One Day Internationals for India, said that he has always refrained from calling people names based on their religion or caste.

Have been called "Setu" all my life and I find it very racist.i dont remember calling anyone by their caste or religion. So why me. I find it extremely disrespectful. My parents have given me a beautiful name and it's only fair that I be called by that name and nothing else.

— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) August 7, 2018

In August last year, Badani's former Tamil Nadu teammate and Indian opener Abhinav Mukund had opened up on racist attacks on him as well. "Fair isn't the only lovely or handsome," he said. "Ever since I was young, people's obsession with my skin colour has always been a mystery to me. Anyone who follows cricket would understand the obvious. I have played and trained day in and day out in the sun and not once have I regretted the fact that I have tanned or lost a couple of shades."

These are not the only cases of racism related to the cricketers though. On South Africa's tour of Sri Lanka in 2006, former Australian international and now commentator Dean Jones had called Hashim Amla a 'terrorist'.

Australian batsman Usman Khawaja had opened up on racism in the country as well. The Pakistan-born player wrote on the PlayersVoice website (playersvoice.com.au), "Getting sledged by opposition players and their parents was the norm.

"Some of them said it just quietly enough for only me to hear. It still hurt, but I would never show it. Most of the time it was when I scored runs. Some parents take things too seriously.

"It is for this reason why so many of my friends, most of whom were born outside Australia, didn't support Australia in sporting contests. I didn't either. Especially in cricket. It was either West Indies, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka. Anyone else."