South Africam pacer Andile Phehlukwayo has accepted Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed's apology for a racial comment pointed at him during the second One-Day International (ODI) between the teams at Durban.
Sarfraz, on Friday, posted a picture of the pair shaking hands ahead of the third game at Centurion, saying he now hopes that the people of South Africa will forgive him as well.
The second ODI, which was played on Tuesday, was won by the hosts after Pakistan triumphed in the opening match at Port Elizabeth. The incident took place during South Africa's chase of 203 runs when the stump mic picked Sarfraz referring to Phehlukwayo as the “black guy."
"Hey black [man], where is your mother sitting? What prayer did you get her to say for you today?" (Abay kaalay, teri ammi aaj kahan baitheen hain? Kya parhwa ke aya hai aaj tu?)," Sarfraz was heard saying.
After the incident followed up with a massive ruckus on the social media, Sarfraz posed an apology on his Twitter page saying his words weren’t “directed at anyone in particular” and that he had no “intention of upsetting anyone.”
Meanwhile, the South African team responded to the situation by accepting Sarfraz’s apology though captain Faf du Plessis did point out that in South Africa in particular, such comments can’t be made “lightly”.
"We forgive him because he said sorry," du Plessis said.
"He has apologised and taken responsibility for it. It is out of our hands and ICC will have to deal with it now. When you come to South Africa, you have to be very careful when you make racial comments.
I'm 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. 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 said.
