Even Ramiz Raja couldn’t talk his way out of this one.
Sarfaraz Ahmed recently came under fire for using a racial slur against South African cricketer Andile Phehlukwayo. His comment made on the pitch was caught by the stump mic and heard by everyone. When the comment is made, you can hear Ramiz Raja’s co-commentator asking for a translation for what the Captain of the Pakistan cricket team has just said.
Even though Sarfaraz apologized for his comments, people are not being very forgiving
Sarfaraz even went directly to Phehlukwayo to apologize for his racial slur.
This morning I apologised to Andile Phehlukwayo and he was gracious enough to accept my apology .and I hope the people of South Africa also accept my apology. pic.twitter.com/bco00dGumR
— Sarfaraz Ahmed (@SarfarazA_54) January 25, 2019
Ramiz Raja, who was a commentator at the time the incident occurred during the match, opted not to give a verbatim translation of Sarfaraz Ahmed said and merely stated that Sarfaraz was calling the South African batsman ‘lucky’.
People were upset that Ramiz Raja tried to play off the comment casually by making the matter light
Unacceptable from Sarfraz Ahmed. Zero tolerance for this in cricket. Sport brings people together, racism doesn’t. Ramiz Raja should have called him out on it. pic.twitter.com/a3gNSD4HRo
— Roushan Alam (@roushanalam) January 23, 2019
@iramizraja it wasn't really difficult to translate what Sarfaraz said Ramiz ji. Blatant racist remark that and very disappointing from you to laugh it off.
— vikas (@_vikasrathee) January 24, 2019
Ramiz Raja trying his best to avoid translating what Sarfaraz said last night to his co-commentator should be enough for everyone to realise what he said was derogatory and racist.
— Ali (@thehistocrat) January 23, 2019
Also – Ramiz's handling of the Sarfraz event was far from ideal! He tried to laugh it off! #Sarfaraz
— Soft Signal (@emzeday) January 23, 2019
But there were also those who commended Ramiz Raja on how he handled the sticky situation that could become way too serious if he had chosen to translate Sarfaraz word-for-word
And hat's off to Ramiz Raja who handled the situation so cleverly, else this issue may amplified to huge extent.
Yes two wrong don't make right, but you may agree that mostly those who are critisizing Sarfaraz's comments, call him totla.— Ali Hasan (@smahr91) January 23, 2019
I agree with you he must be educated regarding these aspects . Luckily ramiz bhai saved sarfaraz on commentary
— Mohammed Mirza (@singa26) January 23, 2019
To clear the air, Ramiz Raja made an official statement, accepting his part in the scandal
He starts off by saying that what Sarfaraz He talks about how if he translated everything the stump mic caught, it would be uncouth and vulgar.
He further says that he has decided he will never be translating anything caught on the stump mics in Urdu to English.
But people were still brutal.
Unnecessary you and that dramay baaz shoeb akhtar created storm in the tea cup.
— Haider (@HyderEbrahim) January 24, 2019
Sir magar ye bat sach hai k Sarfaraz m sath ziyadti hw rahi hai kch zyada
— Huba Asad (@HubaAsad) January 24, 2019
Unfortunately for Ramiz, people do not seem to be very forgiving of how he handled the situation, with a language company even poking fun at the situation.
A lot of people, however, were not fans of how the brand used the situation for their marketing.
But the damage is done and hopefully, lessons were learned by everyone involved and similar situations will be avoided in the future.
You can watch Ramiz Raja’s entire explanation for his translation here:
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