Michael Vaughan will not partake in BBC Ashes coverage due to racism allegations

The former England captain turned commentator Michael Vaughan has been left out of the BBC’s coverage team for the Ashes tour that begins next month. The decision has been taken after Vaughan was alleged to have made racial comments against Azeem Rafic in 2009.

Azeem Rafiq, according to BBC, claimed that Vaughan told him, and three other cricketers, that there’s “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.” This claim was also supported by former Pakistani bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and England leg-spinner Adil Rashid. The duo said that they heard Vaughan make the comment. Although, one other bowler named Ajmal Shehzad has denied ever hearing such a statement coming from Vaughan

Vaughan has denied the claim completely though. In a release, he said, “I categorically deny saying the words attributed to me by Azeem Rafiq and want to restate this publicly because the ‘you lot’ incident never happened.” He added that this allegation is greatly upsetting and that he has been in contact with 6 other former Yorkshire mates and none of them remember that the incident took place.

BBC in their statement for leaving Vaughan out said that his involvement in the significant story of Azeem Rafiq will not reflect appropriately on them or Vaughan. Since BBC wants to be torchbearers in the ongoing investigation, the presence of Vaughan in their coverage team might cause a conflict of interest.