I still consider Ishant Sharma as my brother: Darren Sammy on Ishant Sharma's alleged racist comment during the IPL

Former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy stated that he holds no grudges against Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma for allegedly making a racial comment about him during their days together at Sunrisers Hyderabad. Ishant had used a racial slur 'kalu' to address Darren Sammy in one of his Instagram posts, and when Sammy realized what it meant, he accused Ishant of racism.

However, he later said that he only wanted to have an open discussion about it and now he believes that he and Ishant are on good terms and he still considers him like a brother. Darren Sammy has been extremely vocal about racism ever since the death of the African-American George Floyd and has actively participated in the the 'Black Lives Matter' movement.

"I don't hold grudges. I have spoken to Ishant Sharma. I consider him a brother like I did back in 2014 and '15 when playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad. But again if I find out that a possible racial slur is being used to describe me, no matter what time I find out, I will ask questions about it and that's what I did. I have spoken and voiced my opinion and I am moving on. All these issues started a conversation in the cricket fraternity. I have no regrets talking about that," Darren Sammy told PTI.

Leadership is about empowering others in the team: Darren Sammy

Darren Sammy averages only 21 in Tests, 24 in ODIs and 17 in T20s with the bat and has bowling strike-rate of 73 plus in Tests and 61 in ODIs. However, he believes that leading a side is not always about personal goals and performances. It is more about motivating the other players in the team to do well and that has what he has always tried to do. Under Sammy's leadership, West Indies won two T20 World Cups, in 2012 and in 2016.

"Leadership is about empowering others and that's the role I played in the later stages of my captaincy for West Indies and other teams that I led. Ideally, I would have liked to be a performer like some others but as leader, you probably find less time to give yourself that attention," Darren Sammy said.

Darren Sammy concluded by saying that he had a great time playing for the West Indies and now he was concentrating more on leading the St. Lucia Zouks in the 2020 edition of the Caribbean Premier League.