Cricket Australia took immediate action to fix a racist slur displayed on the live score ticker during the tour match between Pakistan and PMXI in Canberra.
Pakistan's tour of Australia includes three Test matches for the 2023-25 World Test Championship and the Benaud-Qadir Trophy.
Before the series, a tour match against the Australian Prime Minister's XI took place at Manuka Oval, Canberra.
Pakistani skipper Shan Masood won the toss and elected to bat. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq opened the innings for the visitors.
The match was broadcast live, and the scorecard on the screen displayed "PMXI" for the home team and "PAK" with an additional "I" for the visitors.
This caused controversy, as the four-letter term "P***" is offensive and considered a slur against people of Pakistani and Indian origin.
The choice to run with “PAKI” on the Fox ticker over the traditional “PAK” is…quite a choice. pic.twitter.com/FZz4ulYtV0
— Daany Saeed (@daanysaeed) December 5, 2023
Australian cricket journalist Danny Saeed pointed out the error, prompting Cricket Australia to change the display to "PAK".
They issued a statement acknowledging the mistake, "The graphic was automatically generated by a data provider that hadn't been used for a Pakistan match before. This was regrettable, and we corrected the error as soon as it was identified."
Pakistan reached 324-6 at the close of play on the first day, with Masood leading the way with an unbeaten 156. Jordan Buckingham was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts, claiming 3-63.
