Azeem Rafiq Open to Meeting Former Teammate Michael Vaughan

image-lg1t12qjMichael Vaughan was found not guilty by the CDC [Source: Twitter]

Former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq is open to meeting with his ex-club captain Michael Vaughan after the latter was found not guilty of racism by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) on Friday. The CDC cleared Vaughan of racism charges levelled against him by his former teammate Rafiq back in 2021.

Rafiq alleged that Vaughan and five others used racist language against him and other Asian-origin players ahead of Yorshire's T20 Blast encounter against Nottinghamshire in 2009. 

Others included John Blain, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, and Richard Pyrah; all of whom were found guilty of using discriminatory charges. 

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) filed charges against Vaughan and others in 2022. However, it should be noted that only Vaughan decided to appear in front of the public CDC hearing. 

In his column for The Telegraph, the former England captain spoke about being open to meeting Rafiq again.

According to Press Association on Monday, Rafiq responded that he would meet Vaughan and know each other's perspective.


Here's what Rafiq said

"The one thing I've always tried to do is try to get in a room and have conversations because we're only going to get things better if humans start to have conversations with each other and get each other's perspective.And from that point of view, I would always be open to that."

The former player further revealed that since the CDC findings came to light over the weekend, he has faced an increasing amount of abuse over social media. 

Both Vaughan and Rafiq did meet each other in 2021 before the ECB laid charges against the former last year.