We Were ‘Bloody Indians’ to Them: Engineer on Incidents of Racism

Farokh Engineer said Indian players were often on the receiving end of racism in international cricket.

The 80-year-old former cricketer played 46 Tests for India scoring 2,611 runs.

(Photo: PTI)

Former India cricketer Farokh Engineer has opened up about facing racism during his time in county cricket in England.

Engineer, who played for Lancashire in the 1960s, said he did not hold back when faced with racism.

"When I first came into county cricket, there were question marks like 'he is from India?' I did face it (racist comments) once or twice when I joined Lancashire. Nothing very personal, but just because I was from India. It had to do with making fun of my accent," Engineer told The Indian Express.

"I think my English is better than most Englishmen really, so soon they realised that you don’t mess around with Farokh Engineer. They got the message. I gave it back to them straightaway. Not only that I proved myself with my bat and gloves as well. I was simply proud I put India on the map as an ambassador for the country."

Speaking in a podcast with Cyrus Brocha, Engineer said Indian players were often on the receiving end of racism in international cricket as well.

Engineer talked about how former England captain Geoffrey Boycott used terms such as 'bloody Indians', and shed light on how the Indian Premier League caused a shift in the attitude of the Englishmen.

"We were all ‘bloody Indians’ to them till a few years ago. Now once the IPL started, they are all licking our backsides. It amazes me that just because of the money, they are licking our boots now. But people like me know what their true colours were initially. Now they suddenly changed their tunes. India is a good country to go for a few months and do some television work, if not play and make money," Engineer had said on the podcast.