Cricket commentator Isa Guha has apologised for calling Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah the “most valuable primate” during the third Test against Australia.
She made the remark while commentating for Fox Sports in Brisbane on Sunday after Bumrah got India off to a stunning start with two quick wickets.
Her comment sparked a social media backlash which noted the word’s history as a racial slur.
On Monday, Guha apologised on air: “Yesterday in commentary I used a word that can be interpreted in a number of different ways… I’d like to apologise for any offence caused.”
Guha, who is also a BBC commentator and former England cricketer, had been speaking live on air with colleagues Brett Lee and Allan Border when the controversy happened.
“Bumrah, today: five overs, 2-4. So, that’s the tone, and that’s what you want from the ex-skipper,” Lee said.
Guha responded: “Well, he’s the MVP, isn’t he? [The] most valuable primate, Jasprit Bumrah. He is the one that’s going to do all the talking for India, and why so much focus was on him in the build-up to this Test match, and whether he would be fit.”
In her apology on Monday, she said: “I set myself really high standards when it comes to empathy and respect for others and if you listen to the full transcript, I only meant the highest praise for one of India’s greatest players and someone that I admire greatly as well,” she said.
She said she had been “trying to frame the enormity of his achievements and I have chosen the wrong word and for that I am deeply sorry”.
“As someone who is also of South Asian heritage, I hope people would recognise there was no other intention or malice there,” she said.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri, a fellow Fox Sports commentator, commended her for the apology and urged India to “move on”.
“People are entitled to make mistakes. We are all human. To own up and say, ‘I’m sorry’ … it takes courage. She’s done it.
“As far as the Indian team, there is a Test on and they want to focus on the game,” he said.
Bumrah continued his achievements on Monday, taking his sixth wicket of the innings.
Racial slurs are not unheard of in international cricket.
During the Indian team’s tour of Australia in 2007 and 2008, Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds alleged India’s Harbhajan Singh had called him “nothing but a monkey”.
An independent report into the sport published last year found that racism, sexism, classism and elitism were “widespread” in the English and Welsh game.
