Sarfraz Ahmed follows Hardik Pandya's route; Twitter wants ban on 'racist' Pakistani captain

Pakistan cricket team captain Sarfraz Ahmed is on the verge of landing himself in a lot of trouble after he was heard using racist comments on the stump microphone against South Africa in the second ODI in Durban on January 22.

The last year has been a rough ride for cricketers as players from around the world have landed themselves in trouble for their activities on and off the field. In March 2018, Australians Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were handed lengthy bans for a ball-tampering scandal.

Earlier this month, Indian cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul faced immense backlash for their comments on a talk show. The remarks made by the cricketers were deemed to be "sexist" and "misogynistic".

Now the Pakistani captain's comments on the field directed at South African all-rounder Adile Phehklukwayo has been caught on the stump microphone and given its sensitive nature, is sure to face further scrutiny.

Sarfraz could be heard saying, "Abey kaale, teri ammi aaj kahaan baitheen hain? Kya parwa ke aaye hai aaj?" (Hey black guy, where's your mother sitting today? What [prayer] have you got her to say for you today?)

This came in the 37^th over of the South African innings when the hosts were chasing a modest total of 204 to win the second ODI. After being reduced to 80-5, Phehlukwayo was stitching a match-winning partnership with Rassie van der Dussen. This may have frustrated Sarfraz prompting him to make the remark.

Phehklukwayo has batted with luck on his side as he was dropped in the first match and survived a close shave from a Shaheen Afridi delivery at the time of the comment. He went on to score an unbeaten 69 and levelled the five-match series 1-1.

The commentators on-air at the time also heard Sarfraz and Mike Haysman asked Ramiz Raja for the translation. But the Pakistani commentator was obviously embarrassed and instead said, "Difficult really to translate that. It's a big long sentence."

Sarfraz's comments will be reviewed and he might face punishment in retrospect as ICC's anti-racism policy states that all of ICC's members should "not at any time offend, insult, humiliate, intimidate, threaten, disparage, vilify or unlawfully discriminate between persons based on their race, religion, culture, colour, descent, and/or national or ethnic origin (inappropriate racist conduct)."

Naturally, this has lead to a lot of social media backlash.