Rana Naved-ul-Hasan accuses Yorkshire County of racist behaviour

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan throws his weight behind Azeem Rafiq and accuses Yorkshire County of racist behaviour.

By Web Desk
September 16, 2020
Former fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 

Former fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan on Tuesday thew his weight behind spinner Azeem Rafiq and claimed that he too was racially abused when he played for Yorkshire county club, ESPNcricinfo reported.

Rana said that he was subjected to hooting and racist slurs from home supporters, when he played for Yorkshire in 2008 and 2009. He further said that his then teammate Rafiq would turn to him for the same reason. 

Rafiq revealed earlier this month that he was left on the brink of suicide during his time at Yorkshire because the club was "institutionally racist".

"I fully support what Azeem said and this has been the case with me as well," Rana said.

"I never spoke about it because, as foreigners, we were temporary and somehow I managed to accept the way it is. So I just focussed on playing cricket. I never wanted to jeopardise my contracts.

"There was systematic taunting and it's tough to do much about it. To us as overseas players from Asia, when you are not able to perform, the home crowd which should be supporting us, instead they started hooting and would taunt us with racist slurs like 'P**i'."

READ: Yorkshire launch investigation after Azeem Rafiq's racism allegation

He recalled being given the cold shoulder when his performance was not up to the mark. 

"If you are performing then you get all the space but, in case I am not taking wickets, the attitude suddenly started to change. They started to give us a tough time, giving me a smaller hotel room and there used to be a clear case of discrimination. They would do some strange things to annoy us and make you feel lesser. It wasn't abusive but their attitude wasn't friendly towards Asians," he said. 

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