Two protestors barged into the Sydney Cricket Ground during the first ODI between India and Australia on Friday with one of them carrying a placard against Adani Group.
The protestors were denouncing India’s Adani Group’s coal project in Australia.
The banner read ‘NO $1B ADANI LOAN’.
The front of the protesters’ T-shirt said “#StopAdani” while at the back, it read “Stop Coal. #StopAdani. Take Action.”
One of them reached close to the pitch as India pacer Navdeep Saini was getting ready to bowl the sixth over of Australia innings. The duo was escorted out by the security after their brief intervention.
Strangely, the security took their time before intervening raising question marks over the arrangements made for the high-profile series.
“We’ve got a couple of pitch invaders protesting about something,” Adam Gilchrist said on Fox Sports. “We’ll wait for security to come and get them and remove them. We don’t see any urgency from security at the moment.”
A group of protestors, going by the name Stop Adani, had gathered outside the SCG before the match got underway.
“Millions of Indian taxpayers who are watching the first game of the Indian cricket tour have a right to know that the State Bank of India is considering handing their taxes to a billionaire’s climate-wrecking coal mine,” a statement from Stop Adani read.
Cricket Australia has allowed the entry of fans for the ODI series with SCG operating at 50 per cent occupancy.
India are scheduled to play three ODIs, as many T20Is and four Test during their Australia tour which got underway from Friday in Sydney.