Controversy erupts as racist slur used in scorecard during Pakistan's warm-up game in Australia, CA clarifies with apology

The Pakistan cricket team has not been well received in Australia for the three-match Test tour starting on December 14. Earlier, footage of the players themselves loading their luggage into a truck went viral on social media as no officials from Pakistan or Australia arrived at the airport to receive them. Now a big controversy has erupted after the Asian side was racially addressed during their only practice match ahead of the crucial series.

Advertisment

Pakistan are currently engaged in a 4-day warm-up match against Prime Minister XI. Pakistan openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique opened the innings after captain Shan Masood elected to bat first in Canberra on Wednesday. As soon as the match started, the live score ticker running during the broadcast of the match showed a racist term to represent the touring side. 

The ticker displayed 'P**I' instead of 'PAK', which immediately caught the eye. The term 'P**I' is a racist slur used to insult people of South Asian descent. Notably, the term is derogatory and classified as an 'offensive term' by the Oxford Dictionary.

The use of the racial term was on the scorecard was spotted by Australian journalist Daany Saeed. He posted the screenshot of the ticker on X with the caption, "The choice to run with “PAKI” on the Fox ticker over the traditional “PAK” is…quite a choice." The post caught the attention of Cricket Australia, who immediately made changes to the scorecard. The governing body of Australian cricket later clarified the issue and apologised.

Advertisment

“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.

A clarifier on this from CA: “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.” https://t.co/7FttR2iZTR

— Daany Saeed (@daanysaeed) December 6, 2023

Taking about the match, the Men in Green declared the first innings after posting a massive score of 391. Skipper Masood made a dream start to his new journey as he piled up his third double hundred in first-class cricket. He remained unbeaten on 201 off 298 balls with 14 fours and a six. At the end of Day 2, the Prime Ministers XI trailed by 242 runs with eight wickets in hand.