Abhinav Mukund says his message against racism not directed at India teammates

Indian cricket team opener Abhinav Mukund has come out with a strong message against racism, saying "fair is not the only lovely or handsome". The social media post, which has been winning hearts, is his response to people who have been posting abuses about his skin colour, the cricketer revealed.

Mukund, who is currently with the Indian team on its tour to Sri Lanka, said he had been waiting to address the issue and finally found time to do it on Wednesday, August 9.

The 27-year-old opened up on how he he had been subjected to a lot of name-calling right from his young age. He added that he chose to not reply to those insults, but finally decided to speak about colour-based discrimination after being irked by abuses on social media.

"I have been subject to a lot of name calling and I have laughed and shrugged it off because I had bigger goals! Affected young, I toughened up because this was never something that would pull me down. There were many times when I chose not to dignify these insults with responses," Mukund wrote.

He added: "With the rise of social media, it has gone to a magnitude that I see people hurling abuses left, right and centre at something I have absolutely no control over. Fair isn't the only lovely or handsome guys."

Racism has been a major hindrance to progress in all walks of life, and sport is not an exception. Colour-based discrimination and the fight against it is also an important part of cricket's history.

Mukund's message won a lot of praise and Twitterati also backed the Tamil Nadu batsman to not pay heed to abusive messages, but focus on his cricket career.

The left-handed opening batsman, who returned to India squad after a five-year hiatus during the one-off Test against Bangladesh earlier this year, clearly mentioned in his post he was not just speaking for himself, but for many, who are "ridiculed" based on skin colour.

Mukund came up with a series of Tweets on Thursday, August 10, to clarify his message against racism was not targeted at his teammates, but was directed towards people who have been coming up with racist remarks.

"Guys please don't turn this into something else, it has absolutely no connection to anyone in the team," Mukund wrote.

Notably, Mukund played the first Test in Galle against Sri Lanka last month as a replacement to injured opener KL Rahul and made the most of his opportunity by slamming a half-century. However, he missed the second Test in Colombo as the Karnataka batsman returned to the squad.