|| Desk Report ||

Former South Africa pace bowler Makhaya Ntini, on Friday, recalled his harrowing days in the national team when he was felt ‘forever lonely’ in the team by his erstwhile teammates.

While the entire world stood against racism, Ntini opened up about the racism he faced, accusing his then teammates of making him feel isolated.

“I was forever lonely at the time,” said Makhaya Ntini, among the 30 former South Africa cricketers to come out in support of the BLM movement.

“Nobody knocked on my door to go for dinner. Teammates used to make plans right in front of me, skipping me out. When walking into the breakfast room, nobody came to sit with me,” Ntini said in an interview with ‘South African Broadcasting Corporation’.

“We wear the same uniform and sing the same national anthem, but I had to overcome (the isolation),” he added.

Ntini said he used to avoid travelling in the team bus and preferred running to the stadium to deal with the isolation.

“I used to see the driver of the team bus, give him my bag, and then I would run to the cricket ground. I did the same thing on the way back, I just ran back instead,” he said.

“People never understood why I did that, I never told them what I was trying to avoid. It became my best thing, I didn’t have to face any of it,” he also said

“I was running away from loneliness. If I was sitting at the back of the bus, they would go and sit at the front. Whenever we won, it was joyful but I was the first to be blamed whenever we lost,” he added.