Cricket Australia expresses regret over use of racial slur on live score ticker during Pakistan’s practice match

The tour to Australia has not started well for the Pakistan Cricket team as a couple of controversies came to light which has made the Pakistan fans and journalists uncomfortable and prompted them to raise the issue on social media.

First controversy erupted on the Pakistan team’s  landing only at the Canberra airport where there were not enough people to load Pakistan player’s luggage into the truck and the players had to themselves load them in as they had a flight to catch on time. The picture of Pakistan players loading their kits and luggage into a truck went viral and left fans questioning the Australia and Pakistan management’s logistical blunder.  

Just when people got over it another controversy erupted on the first day of Pakistan’s four-day practice match against the Prime Minister’s XI of Australia. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first and when they came out to bat, the score ticker mentioned the Pakistan team as P**I instead of the traditional PAK.

P**I a racial slur is used as an insult to the Pakistani or Asian people from the Indian subcontinent. The Oxford Dictionary classifies P**I as an ‘offensive term’ that is used in a derogatory manner. As soon as the Pakistan innings started, the score ticker was displaying P**I until it was spotted by an Australian journalist, Danny Saeed who took to social media platform X to raise the issue.

Cricket Australia takes responsibility for their mistake

As soon as the matter started gaining momentum, Cricket Australia (CA) had noticed and it expresses its regret on social media, following which he gave clarifications on the blunder that unfolded. They clarified that the error happened as the graphic shown during the match was an automatic feed from a data provider that had not been used for a Pakistan match before and CA rectified the error as soon as it was brought into notice.

No response has been observed on both the controversies from either the Pakistan players or the coaching staff as it should be said that the demeanor of the Pakistan management has been commendable on both the controversies.