Abdul Razzaq publicly apologizes to Aishwarya Rai
- By Web Desk -
- Nov 15, 2023
Pakistan’s former cricketer Abdul Razzaq issued a public apology to Bollywood diva and Miss World Aishwarya Rai for his controversial remarks.
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After drawing public ire for his derogatory remarks on former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, Pakistan cricket team’s former all-rounder and coach Abdul Razzaq publicly apologized to the Bollywood star, terming her comments in a press conference as a ‘slip of tongue’.
“Yesterday, we were talking about cricket coaching and intentions. I had a slip of tongue and mistakenly took Aishwarya Rai’s name while I was supposed to give another example. I apologise to her personally. I did not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiment,” he said in the video message.
For the unversed, the incident took place a day earlier when Razzaq was discussing the performance of the national squad in the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, and talked about their ‘neeyat (intent)’ and coaching strategies. He opined that the Pakistan Cricket Board does not have the intention to polish the country’s current cricket situation.
“Everyone over here is talking about the intention and Pakistan’s team. Actually, we don’t have good intentions to develop and polish players in Pakistan. If you think that by marrying Aishwarya Rai, a good and pious kid would be born, it would never happen,” he was heard saying while sitting alongside former cricket stars Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul, who laughed and clapped on his statement.
As the video went viral on social media, Razzaq was under fire for his comments and along with social users, was also condemned by fellow cricketers.
Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhter wrote on X, “I highly condemn the inappropriate joke/comparison made by Razzaq. No woman should be disrespected like this. People seated beside him should have raised their voice right away rather than laughing and clapping.”
Though, appearing on a private news channel later, Afridi clarified, “I couldn’t hear what he said. I saw the clip after reaching my home and was shocked.”
“He shouldn’t have used such words,” he maintained.