Melbourne: After being at the receiving end of racial taunts in Vadodara and Nagpur, Andrew Symonds was abused in Mumbai too during Australia’s final ODI against India, which the hosts won by two wickets on Wednesday, according to the Australian media.

The Australian claimed that as Symonds walked out to bat, a hostile part of the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium greeted the towering all-rounder with cat calls and “distinct monkey calls”. An Australian photographer took snaps of the hostile crowd, it said.

The daily also claimed that the abuse unsettled Symonds so much that the batsman, who has been in tremendous form in the series, fell to Murali Kartik for a first-ball duck.

“The International Cricket Council’s anti-racism code was instantly flashed on the screen, but Symonds seemed unsettled and was dismissed first ball,” it said.

And while he was walking back to the pavilion, Symonds was greeted with another round of abuse, it claimed.

The newspaper also took a dig at BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty, who doubles up as the Board’s anti-racism officer, for seeking proof of any such event.

“I was in Vadodara myself and there was so much noise the crowd was making. It is difficult to identify this particular section. They are chanting and shouting all the time. It’s just media speculation. Unless there is some proof, how can you pick on it?” he was quoted as saying.

Earlier on Wednesday, BCCI President Sharad Pawar and his Australian counterpart Creagh O’Connor issued a joint statement, vowing to stand by the ICC Anti-Racism Code and asserting that racism has no place in cricket.

[India makes a big issue of racism when it comes on them but they are the one who do the real racism. I think India should learn to behave well and BCCI should train their players to behave well in match ground. Fuck Aggressiveness of ShreeSanth. Game should be played and enjoyed from heart not by anger. - xeric]