Former Yorkshire County Cricket bowler Azeem Rafiq has been accused of sending inappropriate messages to a teenage girl six years ago, as reported by Yorkshirepost.co.uk.
According to the reports, a 22-year old girl has claimed that five years ago when she was 17 years old, Azeem Rafiq met her on a flight from Manchester.
She claimed that the former bowler offered her a drink which she accepted but later denied his invitation of having dinner with him in Dubai.
The accused later shared the screenshots of the messages sent in December 2015 as reported by Yorkshirepost.co.uk.
Regarding Rafiq's racism claims, she said, "I'm not disputing any of his racism claims, because I'm sure they're very true experiences. But certain aspects of what he said just don't really sit right with me. If he was being forced to drink by his teammates, then surely that wouldn't then mean he would be drinking alone on a flight and encouraging a 17-year-old girl to be drinking with him.
"His behaviour towards me was a direct contradiction really of what he said in his testimony. He's calling for equality and respect, but why is he not embodying that in all aspects? Especially in his tone towards women. It's hypocrisy. He is being put on this pedestal for inciting systemic change, but he's really contributing to the problem of the vulgar attitudes towards women." she added.
On the other hand, Rafiq's spokesperson refused to comment on the matter and said, "This was put to us late on a Friday evening. We need to look into this, so cannot comment further for now."
Azeem Rafiq on Tuesday in the parliamentary select committee hearing revealed how former England batter Gary Ballance used the term 'Kevin' in a derogatory manner.
Earlier, Rafiq had claimed that Michael Vaughan in 2009 told him and two other Asian players that there are "too many of you lot, we need to do something about it".
Asked about Vaughan, Rafiq said: "It's important on Michael that we don't make it all about Michael. It was a long time ago. He might not remember it because it doesn't mean anything to him." Vaughan, however, had denied the allegations.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
