Rana Naved-ul-Hasan: Second player alleges Yorkshire racism after Azeem Rafiq

Ex-Pakistan seamer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has become the second player to allege racism at Yorkshire saying "systematic taunting" occurred at the club.

Rana Naved's allegations come after former Yorkshire spinner Azeem Rafiq said "institutional racism" at the club left him close to taking his own life.

"I fully support what Azeem said and this has been the case with me as well," Rana Naved told ESPNCricinfo., external

A Yorkshire statement said Rana Naved's comments were "very concerning".

Rana Naved, 42, played for Yorkshire in 2008 and 2009, as well as representing Sussex and Derbyshire.

He said: "I never spoke about it because, as foreigners, we were temporary and somehow I managed to accept the way it is. So I just focused on playing cricket. I never wanted to jeopardise my contracts.

"There was systematic taunting and it's tough to do much about it. To us as overseas players from Asia, when you are not able to perform, the home crowd which should be supporting us, instead they started hooting and would taunt us with racist slurs."

Yorkshire appointed an independent law firm to investigate Rafiq's claims, as well as naming a sub-committee, external including prominent figures in the British-Asian cricket community.

Meanwhile, over 120 predominantly Asian-owned businesses signed an open letter, external to Yorkshire asking for a number of changes to be made at the club in light of Rafiq's allegations.

The club said in a statement: "We have recently engaged an independent law firm, Squire Patton Boggs, to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter and they will report their findings in due course.

"In addition, we have also appointed a sub-committee, led by Dr Samir Pathak and supported by NACC Chairman, Mr Gulfraz Riaz, to review the findings of the investigation and provide advice on any further steps the club needs to take.

"We have committed to sharing recommendations which result from the investigation but as it is now under way are unable to comment on specific matters. There is no place for racism in cricket and we take these matters very seriously."

Rana Naved, who took 133 wickets across international cricket, added: "If you are performing then you get all the space but, in case I am not taking wickets, the attitude suddenly started to change.

"They started to give us a tough time, giving me a smaller hotel room and there used to be a clear case of discrimination. They would do some strange things to annoy us and make you feel lesser. It wasn't abusive but their attitude wasn't friendly towards Asians.

"At time I used to feel bad, but I decided to ignore it because I knew I was not going to live there permanently. But I know what Azeem went through. He did share his frustration in my playing days."