Daren Sammy, Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate discuss racial slur issue, decide to move on

Bengaluru, June 12: After seeking an apology from some of his earlier teammates at the Sunrisers Hyderabad for racially abusing him, Daren Sammy said he received a phone call from one of them, discussed the whole episode and has put the issue behind.

Sammy through a tweet had revealed that some teammates at the Hyderabad IPL team had used a term 'kalu' to call him and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera.

"One of the guys has reached out to me and we are having a conversation about it. It's someone I could bet still has a big poster of me and him hung up in his dressing room where I signed it and I said: "Brothers for life."

And I still mean that. But it doesn't take away or change the fact that certain words that are being used could come across as degrading because of the colour of your skin. And whether you are my friend or I see you as a brother, we will or we should have the conversation about that," Sammy told ESPNCricinfo.

"I see this now as an opportunity to educate instead of trying to pinpoint 'this guy is a racist'. No, that's what I'm about. And I clearly stated that, reach out to me, let's discuss. Because I am always about moving forward. Just because it is a tough subject, or a tough conversation, I will not shy away. That's not what Daren is," said the former West Indian skipper.

Sammy said the player did not apologise but assured him that he was talking from a place of love.

"I could be standing here and looking at one object. You are on the other side looking at it and we have two different views. Let me make this clear. You see this beautiful chocolate man you see here, I'm very comfortable in my skin. I refuse to allow any other person to make me mentally feel less than who I am. I am very proud of the skin that I am in. So, whether I get an apology or not, it doesn't change the mentality of how proud I am to be a black person, to be a black man. It doesn't change," he said.

"In hindsight, asking for apology I shouldn't have even done that. If me and my team-mates have done something not intentionally, but now I realise that could be deemed or termed as something that could be hurtful to a team-mate of mine, I would instantly call that person and say: "hey bro, you know what, in spite of what is going on, I really didn't mean in that sort of way. For what it's worth I apologise even though I didn't mean it in any way, shape or form. And it's an opportunity now for us to all get together and educate because we all are leaders in our own right and when you lead people tend to follow," said Sammy.