Former Yorkshire player Rana Naved-ul-Hasan claims he heard Michael Vaughan's alleged racist comments

Yorkshire club’s overseas player Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has come forward to confirm that he heard Michael Vaughan making racially insensitive comments to a bunch of Asian players of the club. The former Pakistan pacer was alongside Azeem Rafiq at Trent Bridge in 2009 when Vaughan is alleged to have made an insensitive statement.

The former England cricketer is supposed to have said, “There’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.” Rana and Rafiq were among the four players of Asian heritage who were a part of the Yorkshire club at that time. Vaughan had however earlier admitted that his name had appeared in the club’s report on Rafiq’s allegations on racism. He also opened up on this matter and denied any such happenings.  He took to his column in the Telegraph and wrote that he hadn’t done anything of this sort in his career.

I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words: Michael Vaughan

“I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words. This hit me very hard. It was like being struck over the head with a brick. I have been involved in cricket for 30 years and never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offense as a player or commentator,” Vaughan wrote in his column.

Rana on the other hand stayed firm on his claim and expressed his willingness to provide evidence to any inquiry as required. Vaughan’s name in the whole saga came in one day after former team-mate Gary Ballance admitted that he used a racial slur against Rafiq. He also added that he regrets using inappropriate words and was unaware of the fact that those words had a greater impact on his friend.

“It has been reported that I used a racial slur and, as I told the independent inquiry, I accept that I did so and I regret doing. To be clear – I deeply regret some of the languages I used in my younger years. I regret that these exchanges took place but at no time did I believe or understand that it had caused Rafa distress.

If I had believed that then I would have stopped immediately. He was my best mate in cricket and I cared deeply for him. To my knowledge, it has never been alleged that I reduced Rafa to tears,” Ballance said in a statement issued by the Yorkshire club.