LONDON: Former Pakistan bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has confirmed that he heard Michael Vaughan making racially insensitive comments to a group of Asian players at Yorkshire.
Rana was alongside Azeem Rafiq at Trent Bridge in 2009 when Vaughan is alleged to have said: "There's too many of you, we need to do something about it." Rana and Azeem were among four players of Asian heritage in the Yorkshire team at the time.
Notbaly, on Thursday in his column in the Telegraph, former England captain Michael Vaughan "completely and categorically" denied Azeem Rafiq's allegation that he was racist towards him and other Asian Yorkshire team-mates in 2009.
The alleged incident occurred as Yorkshire were taking the field during a match against Nottinghamshire in 2009, Rafiq's maiden season as a professional.
But Rana confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he heard Vaughan make the comments and has reiterated his preparedness to provide evidence to any inquiry as required.
Vaughan's revelation came hours after his former team-mate Gary Ballance admitted, via a statement issued by Yorkshire, that he had been the player who had used the racial slur "P***" in conversations with Rafiq.
Following this, Vaughan was dropped from a BBC show.
Vaughan has been working as an analyst on Test Match Special for 12 years on the BBC 5 Live's 'The Tuffers and Vaughan Cricket Show '.
But he will not appear in the show on Monday following allegations of racism by Azeem Rafiq, who claimed that Vaughan had made racist comments towards him and other players before a Yorkshire match in 2009.
"I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words. I have nothing to hide. The 'you lot' comment never happened," the 2005 Ashes winning captain wrote in the column.
"Anyone trying to recollect words said 10 years ago will be fallible but I am adamant those words were not used. If Rafiq believes something was said at the time to upset him then that is what he believes."
(With PTI Inputs)