Cricketer Wahab Riaz on Thursday addressed a viral video showing him splashing water on commuters as he passed them in his vehicle after heavy rains in Lahore left roads flooded. He said it was “purely unintentional”.

Yesterday, at least nine people were killed in the city due to the rains, causing urban flooding and damage to infrastructure. Amid the crisis, Punjab’s caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi had announced that “all cabinet members and administration are in field to clear the water”.

In the video, Riaz, who doubles as a sports adviser for the Punjab caretaker government, could be seen driving on a flooded road and splashing water on commuters he overtook.

The video, shot from within Riaz’s vehicle, shows a car and motorcycle being drenched in water as the cricketer — who has since been upbraided by Twitter users — drives on with his eyes fixed on the road seemingly unconcerned as to what was happening outside.

In a second video, he was shot walking in the middle of a waterlogged road wearing white knee-high rain boots.

The videos went viral and were met with significant criticism, as netizens called the cricketer out for his apparent disregard for the motorcyclists and questioned the sports department’s involvement in administrative measures.

Today, Riaz broke his silence.

“There are always two sides of the coin, but unfortunately we always see the wrong one only. I’m sorry for what happened yesterday, it was purely unintentional and was misperceived in a very wrong way,” he said on Twitter after he was pilloried on social media for the video.

“Let’s try to spread positivity always and not malign this beautiful country of ours with negative propaganda (sic). Stay blessed.”

Criticism

When the videos went viral, Riaz was criticised and made fun of in equal measure.

“Wtf is he doing? Splashing water on bikers and pedestrians.” tweeted @SharjeelRao1

“Can someone explain this?” asked Twitter user @RealtorHabib_.

Some called the pace bowler “showbaz (showoff), tweeting that the “caretaker minister Wahab Riaz is as wayward as the bowler Wahab Riaz”.

Some people mocked the national star.

But Riaz’s apology did not sit well with netizens who deemed the apology half-hearted and lashed out at the cricketer immediately after.

Abubakar Umer, an aide to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said the “other side of the coin was heads, which you did not use”. “When a blunder happens, which did happen, just apologise without any ifs and buts,” Umer added.

Some expressed their anger over the cricketer’s impassive apology.