Yorkshire CCC racism latest Pt1: Ajmal Shahzad claims Azeem Rafiq pressured Adil Rashid into Michael Vaughan claim

Rashid stayed silent on the subject for over a year before finally corroborating Rafiq’s claim just before the first DCMS hearing in November 2021.

Shahzad told ECB investigators a month later that Rashid had effectively cried on his shoulder the year before and that there was a lot of “very murky” stuff going on behind the scenes.

Yorkshire racism latest Pt 2: No culture of racism at Yorkshire, insists Ajmal Shahzad

Shahzad, who played for Yorkshire from 2004-2012, also questioned the motives of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, the other Asian player to corroborate the allegation against Vaughan, querying whether it was an opportunity on his part to “have a little dig” at a club where he made no secret of the fact he was not always happy.

“Rana seemed very happy when Vaughany shook his hand (in the huddle before the match). You know, there was no issues (there) and he never raised an issue.”

Shahzad vouched utterly for Vaughan’s character, saying: “I don’t remember him saying stuff like that.

“He wasn’t that way inclined, you know, he definitely wasn’t. He wasn’t that way inclined.”

Shahzad’s statement, which has only surfaced some 14 months on through legal disclosure, backs up another statement by a former Yorkshire staff member to the ECB investigation which also claimed that Rashid felt pressured into supporting the allegation against Vaughan which he could allegedly not remember.

Shahzad told the ECB: “I spoke to Rashid in December (2020) when I was at Yorkshire coaching and he was very uncomfortable with where this was going.

“He wanted to nip it in the bud sooner rather than later because, quite frankly, he was uncomfortable with how much Rafiq knew about Adil, and that at some point he was capable of, you know, using something that he knew about him personally against him.

“And I remember him saying that, and I was saying, ‘Look, ‘Rash’, how much does he know about you? What you doing?

“And then, you know, I picked up a tweet the other day about there was a bit of blackmailing involved about something. And I’m putting two and two together and I’m trying… I’m listening in the grapevine so I think, I think Adil is being pressurised.

“So I think there are a lot of things that you guys may not be aware of that are happening, and it’s quite murky, and it’s not very… it’s not very nice to be involved in.”

Shahzad went on: “I’d also say look at the position of some of these people who are coming out (alleging racism). I know Rafa’s… I’ve heard Rafa’s gambling debts, business is gone under. I know he’s got a joint business with Rash, which is a conflict of interest in itself. They’ve got a fish and chip shop together.

“Right, so when you’ve got your business partner sticking up for you, whew, you’re going to have to in a way because it feels uncomfortable.

“Adil backed up Azeem’s allegations two days before they went to a parliamentary hearing. Why? And I can only think that some sort of external pressure was put on to him.”

Shahzad added: “A lot of this (stuff) hasn’t come out because… like I said, it gets very murky. It gets very muddy. People want to… people are going to places that people don’t want people to go to and people just know too much about each other and information, etc, etc, and they kind of holding them to ransom.

“And then you get into this predicament where if you don’t stand up for what we’re… if you don’t stand up then we’ll take you down as well, and that’s what’s happening.

“People are just being eliminated because you’re not… you’re not jumping on board with us.”

In a statement issued in response to Shahzad’s comments, a spokesperson for Rashid said: “Adil has been very clear about what he has witnessed and has not been under any pressure, as he has made clear in his statement to the CDC (Cricket Discipline Commission).”

A friend of Rafiq remarked: “If this is the sort of nonsense the defendants are relying on then they are in serious trouble. Azeem has been proven right time and time and time again.

“There have been apologies from Gary Ballance, David Lloyd, Matthew Hoggard and Yorkshire CCC.

“Two different investigations from Yorkshire – a panel and a legal firm – confirmed Azeem had suffered racial harassment and bullying.

“There are numerous witnesses who have gone on the record and there are witnesses who have sent messages to Azeem confirming events.

“He said there are problems in the wider game and this was then backed up by the likes of the Jahid Ahmed revelations and the Changing the Boundaries report.”

Shahzad, who has denied experiencing any racism at Yorkshire, also spoke to the ECB team about context and changing perceptions of what is and is not acceptable to say in the modern era.

“I think context plays a big part,” he told them. “That’s why I always talk about it.

“We also need to be very honest with everyone and everybody needs to be honest and say 15 years ago, you take anything 15 years ago and put it into today’s world, it’s probably different.

“You’re probably thinking a lot of stuff you can’t do now, you can’t say now, you’ve got to be careful how you use your words, etc, etc.”