South African Team Pardons Sarfraz Ahmed, Not Taking Incident 'Lightly'
"We forgive him because he said sorry," the South Africa skipper 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 am 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."
During South Africa’s chase of 203 in the second ODI, the stump mic picked Sarfraz referring as “black guy”. The entire taunt translated to "Hey black guy, where's your mother sitting today? What [prayer] have you got her to say for you today?"
Post the match, Sarfraz issued an apology on social media and PCB too issued a statement expressing regret over the remarks. Currently, the ICC is looking into the entire episode. If Sarfraz is charged, he could receive a suspension of 4-8 matches. Having said that, if the matter is resolved by conciliation, according to article 4 of the ICC's anti-racism code, then there won't be any disciplinary action against the culprit.
Phehlukwayo has till now not responded to the comments. "Andy [Phehlukwayo] says he didn't even notice it and thus felt it wasn't really directed at him," du Plessis said. "I suppose 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.
"We're gracious. We forgive quite easily, except maybe against the Aussies.”
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