Australian legend Shane Warne's remark about Cheteshwar Pujara's nickname when he used to play county cricket with Yorkshire during India's Test series in Adelaide on Thursday has not gone well by fans.
Commentating with Fox Cricket, the former Australia leg-spinner referred to the nickname 'Steve' given to Pujara. While the remarks were made casually on how Cheteshwar was not the easiest name to pronounce, he surely forgot the issue about the same that is in the news.
Recently, on December 5, former Yorkshire captain Azeem Rafiq had filed a legal complaint against his English team claiming direct discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race. According to ESPNcricinfo, two former Yorkshire employees – Taj Butt and Tony Bowry – had recently provided evidence against the club stating racism.
"(There were) continuous references to taxi drivers and restaurant workers when referring to (the) Asian community," Butt, who was employed within the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation as a community development officer, was quoted as saying by the cricket portal.
"They called every person of colour ‘Steve'. Even (India batsman) Cheteshwar Pujara, who joined as an overseas professional, was called Steve because they could not pronounce his name."
Pujara had earlier himself said that it was a nickname given to him by him teammates at Yorkshire because they could not pronounce his first name.
"Well I would prefer Cheteshwar, but it's difficult to pronounce so the guys have come up with Steve," Pujara is quoted as saying by ESPN in this cricket.com.au report in 2018.
"But personally, I would prefer Cheteshwar. Jack Brooks started off with this. He couldn't pronounce my first name so he was asking me what nickname do I have. I said I don't have any.
"So they said, 'we will start calling you Steve'. Initially, they started calling me ‘Puj', but they have started calling me Steve again. It's a good nickname, but I prefer Cheteshwar."
Hence, Warne's comments did not go down well on social media:
Referring to Pujara as ‘Steve’ is: a) unprofessional b) disrespectful c) racist
Learn to say his name
— Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) December 17, 2020
A little bit of context would help this Aus commentary panel realise that the Pujara "Steve" reference is no laughing matter #AUSvIND
— Kanishkaa Balachandran (@kanishkaab) December 17, 2020
Goes on to show what is the importance of reading at least about the sport that earns you bread and butter. @7Cricket commentators @ShaneWarne and others are laughing about Pujara's nickname 'Steve' and I am optimistic that they're naive about the racist context of that name. https://t.co/yyWbFrqpJI
— Mayank (@kmayank9) December 17, 2020
Hey @ShaneWarne, the story behind the "Steve" nickname for Pujara. "They called every person of colour 'Steve'. Even [India batsman] Cheteshwar Pujara, who joined as an overseas professional, was called Steve because they could not pronounce his name." This is as of Dec 2020.
— Prashant Kondi (@PrasKon) December 17, 2020
Somebody tell the commentators to stop discussing Pujara's nickname at Yorkshire
— Himanish Ganjoo (@hganjoo153) December 17, 2020
Oh ye gods, Warne is cluelessly making jokes about Pujara being called "Steve" at Yorkshire, and how that is "easier to pronounce" than "Cheteshwar".
Hey Warney, you might want to read up on that whole racism scandal at Yorkshire!#AUSvIND
— Lea, Leopard that doesn't want to change her spots (@LinuxLea) December 17, 2020
During India's tour of Australia in 2018-'19, senior commentator Kerry O'Keeffe was criticized for his remarks surrounding the pronunciation of Pujara's name.