No Space for Racism in Sport, Change Will Take Some Time Coming: Ish Sodhi

Racism in cricket, or sport in general, has been the talk of the town. A host of players in the recent past have talked about their horrific experiences, due to discrimination on colour. During the #raisethebat Test between England and West Indies, Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent shared their own experiences on the matter.

Now New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi has come forward and expressed his desire to work for the same, regardless how long it takes.

"Diversity for me is something I've grown up with and it's something I'm lucky to have been exposed to at such a young age," Sodhi told Newstalk ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave. "I know I probably haven't done enough as I would like and expect myself to do, in terms of getting in the community and engaging with different ethnicities."

Sodi was born in Punjab, before his family moved to South Auckland.

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"I don't really see it as a responsibility. It's pretty cool that I'm a player of Indian origin who represents New Zealand. And I'm not the only one, we've had Jeet Raval, Ajaz Patel, we've had Mark Chapman and he's got a Chinese mum, we've got players born in South Africa like Neil Wagner and BJ Watling, so the diversity is there. It's just a matter of engaging more of those people at a grassroots to show them that there is a pathway for people of all origins to make cricket a career."

New Zealand cricket had its own brush with racism, when a member from the crowd, racially abused Jofra Archer. The person was then banned from attending any international or domestic match for two years.

"There's no space for that, and when someone comes to our country, we want to create the best experience for them. Incidents like that get dealt with pretty quickly," said Sodhi.

"Ignorance is the worst thing. And at the moment social media is so big so the conversation is open.

"But the danger is people want the change here and now. They expect a 180-degree shift instantly and that's quite dangerous, as it can create some aggression or confrontation that doesn't sit well.

"But if we can look at it like a progressive thing and start that conversation now and educate as much as we can, and look at it as a long-term thing, we'll start to see the benefits from it. It might be 10, 20, 30, 40 years, but as long the work's done now, we'll benefit from it in the future."