Adil Rashid pledged to participate in an official investigation aimed at eradicating racism.© Instagram
The racism controversy at England county Yorkshire isn’t dying down and now spinner Adil Rashid has confirmed Azeem Rafiq’s recollection of Michael Vaughan’s comments to players of Asian heritage during an incident in 2009. Rashid also pledged to participate in an official investigation aimed at eradicating the “cancer” of racism. “Racism is cancer in all walks of life and unfortunately in professional sports too, and is something which of course has to be stamped out. I wanted to concentrate as much as possible on my cricket and to avoid distractions to the detriment of the team but I can confirm Azeem Rafiq’s recollection of Michael Vaughan’s comments to a group of us Asian players,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Rashid as saying.
“I’m encouraged by the fact that a Parliamentary Committee seems to be trying to improve the situation, whether that’s holding people accountable or getting changes made at an institutional level. These can only be positive developments,” he said.
“I will of course be more than happy to support any official efforts when the time is right. For now, though, these matters are of an intensely personal nature and I will not be commenting on them further. I ask you to respect my privacy and allow me to focus on my cricket,” he added.
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Earlier, Vaughan had “completely and categorically” denied Azeem Rafiq’s allegation that he was racist towards him and other Asian Yorkshire teammates in 2009. Vaughan denied Rafiq’s claims that in his final season with the club, he had told Rafiq and two other Asian players that there are “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.
Last week, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had suspended Yorkshire from hosting international matches over handling the issues raised by Azeem Rafiq.
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