Rameez Raja reveals why he didn't translate Sarfraz Ahmed's racist taunt
What's the story?
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed recently made a racist remark on the field against South African all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo.
During South Africa's run-chase in the second ODI at Durban, Sarfraz was caught on the stump mic saying - "Abey kaale, teri ammi aaj kahaan baitheen hain? Kya parwa ke aaye hai aaj?" in Urdu.
Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja was on air at that point in time and the foreign commentators asked for a translation of Sarfraz's comment. But Raja decided not to do so. He has opened up on this incident on his YouTube channel 'Ramiz Speaks' where he revealed the reason for not translating that comment.
The background
The incident happened in the 37th over of South Africa's run-chase at Durban when Sarfraz Ahmed was caught making a racist remark to Phehlukwayo. His comment, when loosely translated to English, was ""Hey black (guy), where is your mother sitting today? What [prayer] have you asked her to say for you today?"
When this happened, the on-air commentator Rameez Raja refrained from translating the comments to English.
The heart of the matter
Rameez Raja analysed Safaraz's fiasco on his YouTube channel and mentioned that, "Racial slurs are completely unacceptable. It's good that Sarfraz has apologised."
Referring to his decision to not translating the comment, Rameez explained, "Translating every abuse, comment or racial slur in an unintelligent commentary. I stretched myself and translated the funny parts from Urdu to English but can be doing this every time. Now, I have decided that I'm not going to translate anything from Urdu to English, will stick to English commentary only."
What's next?
Sarfraz has personally apologized to Phehlukwayo for his taunt and it seems like the saga has ended for now. The third ODI of the 5-match series between Pakistan and South Africa saw the hosts come out on top. Trailing 1-2, Pakistan will be keen to make a comeback in the 4th ODI scheduled to take place tomorrow.