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Paki Is Not A Banter Britain Health Secretary Sajid Javid Wants Ecb To Act Swiftly On Azeem Rafiq Case

Paki is not a banter: Britain Health Secretary Sajid Javid wants ECB to act swiftly on Azeem Rafiq case

The issue of Yorkshire County Cricket Club trivialising an issue as large as racial abuse as mere friendly banter has not sat well with the people in power, especially those related to the representation of minority communities in the British Government.

Sajid Javid, Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove & Secretary of State for Health and Social Care demanded that the England and Wales Cricket Board, the highest governing body of the sport in the country, take swift action in the matter saying that ‘Paki’ is not a friendly banter at all.

Apart from Javid, Culture Secretary of State for UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Nadine Dorries also called Yorkshire for dismissing a racial slur as friendly banter.

"Azeem Rafiq's treatment after the racism he faced was disgusting, and the investigation that followed only makes it even worse. The @ECB_cricket investigation must be swift and fully transparent. Racism must be confronted, and NEVER written off as just 'banter',” she Tweeted.

After complaining about racism in a full-blown campaign in 2020, Azeem Rafiq, who even captained England U-19 and Yorkshire cricket teams was offered an investigation into the matter by the Club through an independent committee.

The committee took more than a year to come out with the report and even as it did, Yorkshire in August apologised to Rafiq for all that he faced at the club. However, in October the club said that nobody could be held responsible for what Rafiq went through and hence nobody could be punished as such.

ESPNCricinfo then published an article quoting a part of the report that has not yet been made public, that mentioned the word ‘Paki’ being used for Raqfiq by many players in the team. After the article, sparks turned into a full-blown fire that might just engulf the entire Yorkshire management in it in times to come.

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Watch: Australian TV host ridicules Team India for taking the knee and ignoring caste-based atrocities

Andrew Bolt, a Sky New Australia host who does a show called Bolt Report took on the Indian cricket team for taking the knee against racism. He called it a mere ‘fashion’ show and ridiculed the stand for being blinded to caste-based atrocities taking place in the country since ages. In the segment called One Last Thing, Bolt says, “I laughed yesterday in bitterness as the Indian cricket team took the knee yesterday as is the fashion these days before their T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan.” He then went on to say, “This is from a team representing a country that should first fix its caste system before making big international statements.” In the show, Bolt further goes on to discuss how the Hindu Varna system is discriminatory towards the lower caste Shudras and Untouchables. It was decided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that the Virat Kohli led side would take the knee in its matches in the World Cup, which was previously not done. Taking the knee has been a big topic debate and not all teams have shared the same sentiment about the matter. Cricket South Africa’s stance on making it mandatory for all players to take the knee the subsequent Quinton de Kock saga brought the topic in further limelight. The senior SA player and one of the best white-ball batsmen in the modern times chose to opt out of a game rather than taking the knee for his fellow team members. However, he issued an apology the very next day explaining himself and then was inducted back into the team.

T20 World Cup | IPL has got nothing to do with India losses, it’s just bad execution: Batting coach Rathour

India batting coach Vikaram Rathour is of the opinion that the Indian Premier League is a great platform that provided the Indian players ahead of the World Cup an excellent opportunity to compete against the best in the world and hence blaming it would be of no good. "IPL does provide you with the platform where you play against or compete against top cricketers all around the world. So, definitely, it is a good platform to practice, so I don't see any issue there,” Rathour said in the pre-match conference ahead of India’s game against Afghanistan. “With us getting into World Cup after playing IPL, the players got lots of games. They had to work on their game, but whether that worked... what happened in the past two games is that we were not really able to execute our plans the way we wanted to and that has been our issue and not the preparation,” he added. Talking about the decision to bat Ishan Kishan at the opening position, Rathour revealed that Rohit Sharma, whose position Kishan took in the game against New Zealand, was very much a part of the management group that took the decision. “Ishan has done really well as an opener in IPL and in the past for the Indian team as well. And about who takes the call - it was the whole management who sits together and takes this call and of course, Rohit is part of that group. Tactically [decision] made sense having a left-hander upfront because we didn't want too many left-handers in the late middle order with Ishan, Pant and Jadeja,” Rathour, the batting coach, who has reapplied for the same position after his contract ends post the T20 World Cup said. Rathour, a former India player himself further said that tacking the Afghan spinners will be a major challenge. “The challenge will be their spinners. If we can bat to our potential, we have a tremendous and skilful set of players with us, who have done well in the past. If we play to our potential, I think we should be able to do well,” he said. After having lost two back to back games, India are now at the mercy of other results and big wins in their own games to get them through to the semi-finals.

T20 World Cup | If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will: Eoin Morgan after hitting form

England skipper Eoin Morgan was happy to be back in whatever little form that he did during England’s clash with Sri Lanka. But he said that he still hasn’t reached his bets in terms of batting. However, the 35-year-old implied what major role confidence plays in any player coming back to form. “Me? No, no!” Morgan said replying to a question on whether he is getting back at his best. “This ground is very challenging. Maybe if I'd have batted second I might have hit the middle of the bat a bit more. (My acceleration) was after facing a lot of balls and they were due to bowl a bad one. But it's good, it’s runs on the board, it's a contribution to winning the game and batting with one of my best mates [Jos Buttler] as well,” he added expressing how difficult it was to get runs in Sharjah batting first. Morgan hit 40 off 36 balls which included one four and three sixes. Talking about belief, Ireland born said, “You sort of always have to believe because if you don't believe, nobody else will. I always do. Today was a bit of a tougher test. It was nice to be out there with one of my best mates enjoying ourselves - although it was quite tough - but just to get a partnership going and put something on the board to try and defend.” Although England had a proper scare when Wanindu Hasaranga and Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka were in the middle and the Lankans needed only 34 off 19 balls. However, the English manage to get both of them out in quick succession and win the game by 24 runs eventually. They are unbeaten in their group and have South Africa to play.

T20 World Cup | PAK vs NAM: Pakistan stretch unbeaten streak with another comprehensive win

Pakistan have been on a roll in the on-going T20 World Cup and they continued the winning streak with yet another convincing victory against Namibia by 45 runs on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. Chasing 190 in 20 overs, Namibia lost an early wicket in the form of Michael van Lingen who was cleaned up by Hasan Ali for 4 runs but Stephan Baard and Craig Williams then steadied the ship for the side and stitched a partnership of 47 runs for the second wicket. But a confusion between the two batters in the middle cost the team, Baard’s wicket who was run out for 29 off 29. Williams was then joined by captain Gerhard Erasmus but Namibia further lost a few wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 110/5. All-rounder David Wiese who has been consistently performing well for the side was among runs once again as he struck an unbeaten 43 off 31 that included a couple of maximums and three fours during the course. But the right-hander’s knock wasn’t really enough to help his team go over the line as Namibia was restricted to 144/5 in 20 overs. Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan picked up one wicket apiece for Pakistan. Earlier, in the day, Babar Azam after winning the toss elected to bat and the right-hander along with his opening partner and wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan began the proceedings in a cautious manner. Both the batters notched up individual fifties and stitched a partnership of 113 runs for the first wicket to lay a solid foundation. While Babar was eventually dismissed for 70 off 49 by Wiese, Rizwan remained not out for a 50-ball 79. Later, Mohammad Hafeez’s cameo of 32 runs in 16 deliveries helped Pakistan post a massive 189/2 in allotted 20 overs. Pakistan skipper Babar lauded the way the batsmen fared. “It's really good, we're maintaining our winning momentum. We wanted to do things differently today, test our batting. Conditions were tough early on, they bowled well and we wanted to take the partnership deep. The way Hafeez batted and got into form, it was important for us as he is a key player,” he said during the post-match presentation. Namibia will now play New Zealand in their next encounter on Friday in Sharjah while Pakistan will be up against Scotland on Sunday at the same venue.