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Former cricketer Azeem Rafiq accuses England newspaper of 'downplaying racism,' blaming him for Gary Ballance's troubles

English-Zimbabwean ex-cricketer Gary Ballance was among the players accused of racially targeting Azeem Rafiq and other players of Asian origin at Yorkshire. A recent article on British daily The Telegraph, however, claimed Ballance 'lost more than any of the accused in that whole saga', which did not go down too well with Rafiq. read more Azeem Rafiq had accused former England and Zimbabwe batter Gary Ballance among several other players of racist behavior at leading county club Yorkshire. Image credit: X Azeem Rafiq has accused a leading British newspaper of attempting to 'downplay racism' by defending Gary Ballance and suggesting that the English-Zimbabwean former cricketer had been 'cancelled' in the racism scandal that had rocked English cricket recently. Pakistan-born English cricketer Azeem Rafiq had in September 2020 publicly aired his grievances regarding racism and bullying in Yorkshire, the leading County club that he had played for in a professional career spanning two decades. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ballance, who had played a handful of matches for his native country Zimbabwe after representing England in 23 Tests between 2014 and 2017, was among the players accused of racist behavior at Yorkshire with the southpaw later admitting to the offence at a hearing. The 35-year-old, who had retired from all forms of the game in 2023, is currently serving as assistant coach to the Zimbabwe team that is facing England in a one-off Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham that got underway on Thursday. Rafiq slams 'pathetic attempt' to portray Ballance as 'cancelled' And two days before the Test got underway, The Telegraph's Nick Hoult wrote an article on the former middle-order batter headlined " English cricket cancelled Gary Ballance, this is what happened next". 'Implicated heavily in the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal, Ballance arguably lost more than any of the accused in that whole saga. 'Having departed England to rebuild his shattered life he returns to Trent Bridge as Zimbabwe's assistant coach,' read the caption of the post on The Telegraph's X account that carried a link to the piece. Rafiq, who had the entire nation's attention fixed on him at the height of the racism row with the matter even reaching the parliament, hit back at the newspaper for what he felt was an attempt to portray Ballance as the victim in the saga. 'Another pathetic attempt by Nick Hoult & Telegraph to downplay racism,' the Karachi-born former cricketer wrote on X quoting the original post by The Telegraph. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Ballance who admitted & apologised yet Nick seems to suggest he was 'cancelled' 'It's all a continued attempt justify the language used 'Embarrassing - keep trying Nick truth won't change,' Rafiq added.