Laxman Sivaramakrishnan recalls team-mates’ ‘racist’ ‘dark chocolate for dark boy’ jibes
Posted on March 26th, 2026
You are talking of racism in Cricket in India, what about the rest of the world? What about the ICC? Look at the way ICC treats Cricket Innovations by non – white people. The Player – Referral concept which is the foundational basis of DRS (Decision Review System) was conceived and published by Senaka Weeraratna as a letter to the Editor of the Australian (March 25, 1997). The four critical elements that are core to the DRS are there in the letter: Player Empowerment: Allowing players (not just umpires) to challenge a decision. Hierarchical Review: The team captain (fielding) or the dismissed batsman (batting) must initiate the appeal. Third Umpire Authority: A third official reviews the decision using technology (video replays). Limited Referrals: A restricted number of appeals per innings to prevent time-wasting. The ICC has historically credited the developers of the technology or math (like Hawk-Eye or DLS) rather than the origin of the concept of the rule change itself. In no literature of the ICC is the name of Senaka Weeraratna (Sri Lankan lawyer) mentioned as a claimant for ownership of the concept. The ICC for some time was run by people with an Apartheid mindset (from South Africa). Everybody knows how they treat dark skinned people in South Africa even with respect to innovations. ICC, the governing body favours Western-originated systems. It is unfortunate that such racial prejudice still continues to influence decision making by the ICC.