Controversy Over Racist Term in Pakistan Scorecard During Australia vs Pakistan Match, Cricket Australia Issues Apology

During Pakistan’s warmup match in their tour of Australia, a significant controversy arose when an Australian journalist highlighted a racial slur used on the Fox Cricket broadcast scoreboard. The scoreboard used the term ‘Paki’ instead of ‘Pakistan’, which is considered a derogatory term for individuals from Pakistan or South Asia.

This incident occurred in the game against the Prime Minister’s XI at the Manuka Oval. Cricket Australia, finding themselves in an embarrassing situation, issued an apology. Journalist Daany Saeed, who initially flagged the issue, shared the apology. He quoted Cricket Australia stating that the graphic was automatically generated from a new data provider and was not used before for a Pakistan game. The error was corrected manually as soon as it was noticed.

For context, the term ‘Paki’ is racially offensive and derogatory towards people of Pakistani or South Asian origin.

In the match itself, Pakistan’s captain Shan Masood played an impressive inning, scoring 201 not out. Pakistan declared their first innings at 391 for 9. Jordan Buckingham was the standout player for the Australian Prime Minister’s XI, taking 5 wickets for 80 runs.

At the end of the day, the Australian Prime Minister’s XI had scored 149 for 2.

The ongoing series includes three Tests between Pakistan and Australia, with the first Test scheduled in Perth from December 14-18. This will be followed by the second Test in Melbourne from December 26-30, and the series will conclude with the third Test in Sydney, planned for January 3-7.