Cricket Australia issues clarification with apology for racist slur used during Pakistan’s batting

In the ongoing Pakistan’s warm-up game against Prime Minister XI, the scoreboard read ‘P**I’, instead of PAK, which created quite a controversy on social media. The word ‘P**I’ is offensive in nature and is used against people of South Asian descent, which made a lot of fans furious. Australian journalist Danny Saeed initially pointed out the mistake, for which Cricket Australia (CA) had to later clarify with an apology.

CA in a statement mentioned that the graphic was automated and they had no control over it. However, they immediately apologised for the mistake and stated that they had corrected the error manually and the problem would not arise again.

“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,” CA wrote in a statement according to the Australian journalist.

Shan Masood’s double ton helps Pakistan post 391 runs on board

Newly appointed skipper Shan Masood played some brilliant cricket and hit a double century against Prime Minister XI in the warm-up game. This was his third double ton in first-class cricket and based on his knock, the visiting team posted 391 runs on board. Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, and Sarfaraz Ahmed supported him well in the initial phase of his knock as the innings will give him a lot of confidence ahead of the three-match series against Australia.

Meanwhile, there remains a lot of room for improvement at the moment. Barring Masood, none of the batters could step up and that’s a concern. Shafique, Babar, and Sarfaraz managed to get a good start but none of them could capitalize. Ahead of facing the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood, this remains a bit concerning. On the other hand, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Wasim Jr. have not been used with the ball, which remains surprising.