Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif called Australian all-rounder Shane Watson a “bloody white” during the team’s tour Down Under and got away with it, according to the then team manager Abdul Raquib. Raquib told a inquiry panel probing the disastrous tour that Asif narrowly escaped getting into another controversy after he directed racist remarks against Watson during a Test match.
“On the second day of the Test, Asif called Watson a ‘bloody white’,” Raquib is heard saying in a leaked video recording of the inquiry committee proceedings.
“In the evening Australian manager Steve Bernard contacted me and informed me that captain Ricky Pointing planned to hold a press conference. I reminded him that under ICC code of conduct such matters could not be discussed in public,” Raquib told the committee members.
He said he kept the whole incident confidential as it would have created more problems for Asif as the Australians could have gone after the player for making what they felt was a racist remark. — PTI