Sarfraz Ahmed: “Don’t call them Bengalis, call them Bangladesh, or you also risk being banned”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed took offence when a reporter referred to the Bangladesh team as “Bengalis”.
The journalist mentioned the word when asking a question on whether all-rounder Shoaib Malik deserved to play in Pakistan’s World Cup clash against Bangladesh since he was retiring from ODI cricket after the tournament.
Malik wasn’t picked for the match at Lord’s, but Pakistan won it by 94 runs.
However, since they couldn’t beat Bangladesh by a margin of over 300 runs, they failed to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals.
New Zealand went through instead since they had a better net run rate.
Question: Do you not think Shoaib Malik deserved a farewell match against the Bengalis?
Sarfaraz Ahmed: Don't call them Bengalis, call them Bangladesh, or you also risk being banned.#CWC19 pic.twitter.com/5P5P07fZ8G
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) July 7, 2019
Responding to the journalist’s question, Sarfraz, as quoted by Saj Sadiq on Twitter, said: “Don’t call them Bengalis, call them Bangladesh, or you also risk being banned.”