There are players who don’t want to talk to each other: Akram hits out at Pak team
Akram’s comments came after Pakistan agonisingly fell six runs short during their chase of a paltry 120.
South Africa cricket team captain Faf du Plessis said on Friday his team had forgiven Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed for his racist taunt on one of their players.
“We forgive him because he said sorry. He has apologised and taken responsibility for it. It is out of our hands and ICC will have to deal with it now,” du Plessis was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
On Tuesday, during the second One Day International (ODI) match between Pakistan and South Africa, Ahmed had hurled racial remarks at Andile Phehlukwayo. The match was being played at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground.
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Speaking about Ahmed’s remark, du Plessis said they had forgiven the Pakistan skipper but were not willing to brush the matter under the table. Du Plessis further said they did not take the incident lightly.
“When you come to South Africa, you have to be very careful when you make racial comments. I am sure he didn’t mean it like that but he has taken responsibility and we will have to see what the outcome of that is going to be. This is not something that we take lightly as a team, but the fact that he apologised straight away means there is regret on his part,” du Plessis added.
“We’re not taking it lightly, but that fact that there was an immediate apology shows there is regret. We can forgive but that doesn’t mean we brush it under the table,” he added.
When du Plessis was asked about Andile Phehlukwayo’s reaction on the matter, the skipper said he did not even notice the comment.
“Andy [Phehlukwayo] says he didn’t even notice it and thus felt it wasn’t really directed at him. I suppose maybe because we didn’t understand it makes a bit of a difference. But it certainly doesn’t sit well with us. There seemed to be immediate regret,” du Plessis added.
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