Adil Rashid confirms Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of racism on Michael Vaughan

In a big development in the Azeem Rafiq racism row, current England spinner Adil Rashid has confirmed that Michael Vaughan, the former Yorkshire and England captain indeed used the sentence, “There are too many of you lot; we need to do something about it."

Azeem had earlier alleged that Vaughan had used this term during a Yorkshire County game in 2009 when Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, the Pakistani pacer along with three players from the Muslim community were part of the Yorkshire playing XI. There is still one player who has not come forward to support Rafiq while the other two in Rana Naved and Rashid have confirmed the allegation.

"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,” Rashid said in a statement quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

The repercussions of this statement by Rashid could be huge in the case of Vaughan’s future career as he has already been stood down from his next Radio 5 Live programme, the Tuffers and Vaughan Show, by the BBC.

Rashid came forward with the statement as he was encouraged by the fact that a Parliamentary Committee seems to be trying to improve the situation and change can be expected from that.

“These can only be positive developments. 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,” said the England leggie.

So far Garry Balance and Vaughan have voluntarily named themselves as being part of the investigation conducted into the allegations made by Rafiq of institutional racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

More names are expected to be revealed when Rafiq, a former Yorkshire captain himself gives evidence in front of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee on November 16.

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