Herschelle Gibbs admits being racist 13 years after calling Pakistani crowd 'animals'

Former South Africa opener Herschelle Gibbs earned himself a lot of fans through his flamboyant style of batting in ODIs and Tests in the 2000s. Having not played cricket since 2012, Gibbs stays involved in the game through coaching endeavours and social media. Recently, the Proteas cricketer explained why he got banned for two Tests matches back in 2007. Have a look.

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Herschelle Gibbs calls out Pakistan's 'rowdy supporters'

Back in 2007, Herschelle Gibbs was banned for the two Tests by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and as a consequence, the batsman missed the final Test match of Pakistan's tour of South Africa in 2006/07. The incident happened in the first Test match of the tour at Centurion where Gibbs was spotted hurling abuses at members of the crowd. A lot was speculated about what exactly happened as reports emerged of Gibbs coming to the defence of a fellow teammate and then retaliating at unruly crowds. The stump mic had caught Gibbs referring to parts of the crowd as 'animals' among the other things that he said.

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During the tour, there were other reports of unruly crowd behaviour as well. Gibbs' behaviour was widely discussed and had polarised opinions emerge around it. However, his words were termed as 'racist' and Gibbs was handed a two-Test match ban by the ICC. During a recent Twitter Q&A, a curious fan asked Gibbs about the ban and here is what the South African great had to say on it.

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Herschelle Gibbs: Post-playing career

Gibbs played his last game for South Africa in 2010 and proceeded to have a few stints with T20 franchises around the world. His most notable contributions came when he played for the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League and the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, both in 2012. Gibbs has also stepped into the role of a coach with his most recent stint coming in the Bangladesh Premier League 2019/20 as the coach of the Sylhet Thunder side.

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