The PCB on the tweet about Sarfaraz Ahmed: “The PCB apologies for this post and accepts the timing of it was wrong”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) issued an apology for posting an insensitive tweet after Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked as the country’s Test and T20 captain on Friday.

After the news about Sarfaraz was announced, the PCB took to Twitter a few minutes later and posted a GIF.

The PCB apologies for this post and accepts the timing of it was wrong. This was a pre-planned post as part of the one-year to go #T20WorldCup promotional campaign. The timing of this post clashed with the captaincy announcement for which the PCB offers its regrets.

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 18, 2019

Following a large amount of criticism and backlash, the PCB removed their tweet and issued an apology.

“The PCB apologies for this post and accepts the timing of it was wrong. This was a pre-planned post as part of the one-year to go T20 World Cup promotional campaign. The timing of this post clashed with the captaincy announcement for which the PCB offers its regrets,” the board said on Twitter. 

Veteran batsman Azhar Ali has replaced Sarfaraz as Test captain, while Babar Azam will take over as skipper in the shortest format.

In addition to being sacked as captain, Sarfaraz was also dropped for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of Australia, which will consist of three Twenty20 Internationals from November 3 to 8, and two Tests from November 21 to December 3.