Faf tells opponents to ‘be careful’ with words after racism row
The Proteas seem to have accepted the sincerity of Pakistan captain's Sarfraz Ahmed's apology.
Captain Faf du Plessis speaks during the during the South African national cricket team training session and press conference at SuperSport Park on January 24, 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
Faf du Plessis has issued some stern advice for any opponent coming over to South Africa: guard your mouth.
The Proteas skipper on Thursday responded to questions over whether he and his troops had accepted Pakistan counterpart Sarfraz Ahmed’s apology for an alleged racist comment directed at Andile Phehlukwayo.
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“When you come to South Africa, you’ve got to be very careful when you start making comments of a racial nature,” Du Plessis said ahead of Friday’s third ODI in Centurion.
“I saw his apology. He’s obviously taken responsibility, but it’s out of our hands now. The International Cricket Council has got to deal with that now.”
Sarfraz had issued a fairly innocuous statement via Twitter on Wednesday evening, saying the comment “wasn’t directed at anyone in particular” and was done in “frustration”.
While Du Plessis insists the Proteas take incidents of this nature very seriously, there seems to be a high degree of calmness in the camp over this saga.
“Andy (Phehlukwayo) says he didn’t even notice it and thus felt it wasn’t really directed at him. I supposed 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,” said the South African captain.
“We’re gracious. We forgive quite easily, expect maybe against the Aussies!”
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