Racism A Societal Issue, Need To Do More To Eradicate It Says Joe Root

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England skipper Joe Root has called on English cricket to do more to eradicate racial discrimination from the society days after his former Yorkshire teammate Azeem Rafiq's complaint was upheld by a panel investigating charges of racism levelled by him on the Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

"I can't really speculate or comment too much on a report I have not seen. But, as a former team-mate and friend, it's hard to see Azeem hurting as he is," said Root during a virtual interaction with the media.

"More than anything, it just shows that there is a lot of work we have to do in the game. It is a societal issue in my opinion. We have seen it in other sports, we have seen it in other areas," added Root.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club had on Thursday acknowledged that Rafiq was victim of racism. The club apologised to the Pakistan-born English cricketer.

The county issued a statement following findings of an investigation conducted by international law firm Squire Patton Boggs that looked into the allegations made by the player. Some of the allegations of racism were upheld by the panel.

"As a sport, we have got to keep trying to find ways of making sure this is not a conversation that keeps happening. We have got to find ways of creating more opportunities, making our game more diverse, educate better," added Root.

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