Under-fire skipper Sarfraz Ahmed apologises for his racial comments against Andile Phehlukwayo
Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed found himself in trouble after passing racial remarks on South African allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo during the second ODI on Tuesday.
Now, Sarfraz has apologised for the same in a series of tweets on his Twitter account.
Sarfraz posted, "1/2 - I wish to extend my sincere apologies to any person who may have taken offence from my expression of frustration which was unfortunately caught by the stump mic during yesterday's game against SA. My words were not directed towards anyone in particular and..."
"2/3 - I certainly had no intention of upsetting anyone. I did not even mean for my words to be heard, understood or communicated to the opposing team or the cricket fans. I have in the past and will continue in future to appreciate the camaraderie of my fellow cricketers from..."
"3/3 - ...across the globe and will always respect and honour them on and off the field."
Sarfraz made the comments against Andile Phehlukwayo in the 37th over of South Africa's run chase on Tuesday. South Africa eventually won the match by five wickets.
Phehlukwayo inside-edged a Shaheen Afridi delivery for a single. He was on 50 at the time and as he ran off to the non-striker's end, Sarfraz was caught on the stump mics passing some comments in Urdu.
The mic-stump had caught what Sarfraz said, which is currently going viral. Here's what was caught on mic.'"Abey kaale, teri ammi aaj kahaan baitheen hain? Kya parwa ke aaye hai aaj?" Which translates to 'Hey black guy, where's your mother sitting today? What prayer have you got her to say for you today?'.
On commentary, Mike Haysman had asked Ramiz Raja, "What's he saying there Ramiz?"
To which Ramiz replied, "Difficult really to translate that, it's a big long sentence."
Earlier, South African team manager Mohammed Moosajee said that the match officials have taken note of the incident.
"The ICC and the match officials have noted the alleged incident. They have started the necessary procedures to investigate the matter. We can only comment once we have received the results of the investigation. Any further clarification/updates have to go through the ICC," said Moosajee.
