‘This was obviously regrettable’- Cricket Australia clarifies usage of derogatory term for Pakistan during practice Test match

Cricket Australia recently faced harsh criticism from Pakistan cricket fans and the cricket fraternity as they mistakenly broadcasted a racist term on their scoreboard during Pakistan’s practice test match against the Prime Minister’s Playing XI in Pakistan’s tour of Australia. 

During the first day of the practice match, The broadcaster and the scoreboard ticker marked ‘Paki’ as the acronym for Pakistan instead of the officially accepted short form ‘PAK’. Notably, the former term is quite a derogatory and racist term that is widely used in the South Asian subcontinent while talking about the country. 

Cricket Australia officially clarified and cleared the air regarding the mistaken derogatory marks and the clarifier said, “The graphic was an automatic feed from a data provider which had not been used previously for a Pakistan game. This was obviously regrettable, and the error we corrected manually as soon as it came to light.” 

Pakistan vs Prime Minister’s Playing XI 

Prime Minister’s Playing XI: Nathan McSweeney (c), Cameron Bancroft, Jordan Buckingham, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Nathan McAndrew, Todd Murphy, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Beau Webster

Pakistan’s Playing XI: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel

Pakistan tour of Australia

Prime Minister’s XI v Pakistan XI: December 6-9, Manuka Oval (10.30 am AEDT)

First Test: December 14-18, Perth Stadium (1.20 pm AEDT)

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG (10.30 am AEDT)

Third Test: January 3-7, SCG (10.30 am AEDT)

Prime Minister’s XI squad: Nathan McSweeney (c), Cameron Bancroft, Jordan Buckingham, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Nathan McAndrew, Todd Murphy, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Beau Webster, Michael Neser. 

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi