Cricket Australia’s Paki racial slur blunder sparks controversy

Monitoring Desk

Canberra: It was a start of a new era for Pakistan cricket team under captain Shan Masood and the newly-appointed skipper stole the show on Wednesday and Thursday during Pakistan’s tour game against Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra. While Shan Masood’s double-century hogged the limelight, there was another incident that unfortunately became a talking point. It was an error made on live TV during their broadcast of the match.

The Pakistani team was represented as PAK, and an additional I, which is used as a racial slur. This error on part of Cricket Australia was soon pointed out by journalist Danny Saeed on X.

He wrote, “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.”

Meanwhile, a report claims that Cricket Australia admitted to the mistake and also clarified that the abbreviation was an automatic feed from a data provider, not used for a Pakistan game earlier. “The graphic was an automatic feed from a data provider that had not been used previously for a Pakistan game. This was regrettable, and the error we corrected manually as soon as it came to light.”

Pakistan eventually declared their innings with Masood unbeaten on 206*, and the team score at 391/9. Jordan Buckingham was the pick of the PMXI bowlers with five wickets.