Cricket News By TODAYLIVESCORE.INFO - Holding welcomes India's decision to take knee. The Indian players were seen taking a knee ahead of their clash against Pakistan.
The Indian players were seen taking a knee ahead of their clash against Pakistan.
Michael Holding, virtually one of the faces of global Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, has welcomed the Indian team's decision to take a knee before the start of their first game in the T20 WC in Dubai on Sunday (October 24). “Glad to see (that),” the fast bowling legend from the West Indies told Cricbuzz on Monday (October 25).
The entire Indian team took the knee before the first ball in their game against Pakistan was bowled. The Pakistan team too expressed solidarity with the movement, but in a different way.
“A couple of people messaged to say that India took the knee and Pakistan put their hands on their hearts which apparently is what they've done consistently in recent times,” Holding, whose speech on the BLM movement last year during a Test in England has come to being acknowledged as one of the most thought-provoking lectures on the matter, further said.
Holding, a self-confessed critic of the Twenty20 format, did not watch the match but said he checked with the Indian team. “You're right I didn't see it (the game). I was glad to hear and actually messaged Ravi (Shastri, India coach) to confirm what took place,” the 67-year-old Jamaican said.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) called it an ‘anti-racism gesture' without mentioning BLM while the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it was willing to offer support to those who wanted to make a statement against racism. “It is something we are very supportive of and offered the ability to do it to each team during the event should they wish,” an ICC source said.