Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has expressed unease at being under the spotlight resulting from his 'badly misrepresented' views in the media.
MELBOURNE: Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has expressed unease at being under the spotlight resulting from his 'badly misrepresented' views in the media, saying he never made a complaint of the crowd behaviour during the just-concluded one-day series against India.
Symonds, however, appreciated Indian authorities for taking action on the repeated racial taunts from the crowds in Mumbai.
"I feel that the print and TV media have badly misrepresented my views at times over the past three matches," Symonds said.
"Over the past couple of weeks I feel as though I have been put in a situation that is not of my making. Anyone who knows me will understand that being the focus of this particular story is something I'm not comfortable with," he was quoted as saying in the Australian media on Saturday.
Symonds, reported by the media as the target of Indian crowds' monkey chants in Vadodara and subsequently during the Nagpur and Mumbai ODIs, said he never complained of racial taunts but only answered media queries.
"I never made a complaint at any venue but I did answer media questions asking whether I had heard the chants aimed at me in Vadodara. I said at the time that I wasn't particularly bothered by it as I tried to defuse the original situation by interacting with the crowd."
Symonds said he would rather prefer that the focus be on the game of cricket.
"I understand racism in all sports is a sensitive, serious and global issue. I would much prefer the focus be on the cricket," he said.
After four spectators were charges of harassment and misbehaviour for allegedly making monkey gestures towards Symonds, the Australian said he was pleased that action was taken to tackle the issue.
"It is pleasing to see the authorities in Mumbai tackle the issue after the seventh one-day match," said the all-rounder who bagged the man-of-the-series award in the seven-match ODI series.
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