Webdesk:
Imran Khan recently disclosed widespread bigotry in England cricket, recalling his stint as captain of two county teams.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Khan played for Sussex and Worcestershire.
The cricketer-turned-politician told Times Radio on Friday, “Look, I haven’t had much time to watch cricket as my life hasn’t given me spare time in the previous four years but I read about the Yorkshire racism problem.”
I witnessed England change from 1971, when I joined, to the mid-1980s, when I retired. By the end of my career, English and county cricket had less open racism.
“By the time I retired in the mid to late 80s, you didn’t have the word racism, but when I started off there was always racist insults on the pitch. Racism would affect Pakistanis, especially in the north of England. These skinheads would call you a P*** and abuse you on the street.
“It progressively changed and by the time I ended there considerably less racism.”
Azeem Rafiq, a former Yorkshire cricketer, testified earlier this month at a hearing investigating the racism issue.
Rafiq, 32, from Pakistan, initially accused Yorkshire of racism and abuse in September 2020.
He told a British parliamentary committee in December 2022 that his family’s maltreatment forced him to flee the Country.
Rafiq said Yorkshire’s harassment had led him to suicide.
Several British government ministers and lawmakers, as well as the England and Wales Cricket Board, were involved in the dispute (ECB).
Last June, the ECB lodged disrepute charges against seven former county residents and the club.
