Veteran cricketer Abdul Razzaq Wednesday apologised to Indian actor Aishwarya Rai after he received flak for a controversial statement he made during an event earlier this week.
The cricketer had made an inappropriate analogy using the former Miss World's name while responding to a question that had to do with the team management's ill intention which hinders the grooming of players for good cricket.
"If your thinking is that you marry Aishwarya Rai and expect a pious and virtuous child to be born, then that can never happen," the cricketer had said.
However, in his apology doing the rounds on social media, he has expressed remorse for the words he uttered and clarified his intention behind the statement.
"At the press conference yesterday, there was a discussion on cricket, coaching and intention, but my tongue slipped and I took Aishwayrya jee's name, while I was to give another example," Razzaq said.
The cricketer said "sorry" and that he "really apologises" to the actor.
"It was not my intent. I was supposed to give another example but took her name [by mistake]," the former all-rounder reiterated.
Razzaq's words at the press conference received immense condemnation, and rightly so, as many maintained that the cricketer's use of an "inappropriate analogy" involving the Bollywood superstar was a low blow.
Netizens immediately slammed the former cricketer for his bad choice of words at a public event where he was accompanied by fellow veterans Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal, as theexample he was trying to cite was unrelated to the discussion he was a part of.
After Razzaq blurted out the comment and his video began surfacing on the internet, users immediately called the cricketer out for the tasteless analogy.
Earlier, former captain Shahid Afridi, who was also present with Razzaq in the very show, had also apologised for clapping, saying he had not heard what the former all rounder had said.