Indian batting star Cheteshwar Pujara was nicknamed “Steve” when he played for Yorkshire in 2015 and in 2018, the Pakistani origin cricketer Azeem Rafiq told a Commons select committee in London on Tuesday.

Rafiq said that “Jack Brooks I think started it where he didn’t feel the need to call Pujara by his first name. Not only Jack, (but) the coaches, the media, the Yorkshire website — everyone called him that.”

Brooks, 37, predominantly a right arm medium fast bowler who can also bat, currently plays for Somerset after spells at Oxfordshire in the Minor Counties, and Northamptonshire and Yorkshire in first-class cricket.

The whole country has been shaken by the emotional evidence given by Rafiq to the Digital Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

Rafiq further went on to add that “Kevin” was a nickname used by the then Yorkshire skipper Gary Ballance all the time for people of select colour. “Gary and Alex Hales got very close to each other playing for England but I understand Alex went on to name his dog Kevin because it was black. It is disgusting how much of a joke it became.”

Nicknames are an everyday part of English life. More often than not, they are a

sign of affection but when applied to Asians, they have come to be recognised as a form of disrespect.

Even Ranji was called “Mr Smith” at Cambridge where he got a Blue in his final year in 1894. In time he became Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, GCSI GBE, but at university his fellow English players thought “Ranji” was too complicated a name.

In December last year, Shane Warne was ticked off for referring to Pujara as “Steve”. The former Australian spinner was commentating during the India-Australia Test in Adelaide when he explained that since Cheteshwar was “not the easiest name to pronounce”, he had gone with “Steve”, the nickname that had stuck to Pujara from his Yorkshire days.

Pujara himself has laughed off the nickname.

“Well, I would prefer Cheteshwar,” he has said. “But it is difficult to pronounce so the guys have come up with ‘Steve’. But personally I would prefer Cheteshwar. I think it is Jack Brooks who started off with this. He couldn’t pronounce my first name so he was asking me what nickname do I have. I said, ‘No, I don’t have any nicknames,’ and

he said, ‘We will start calling you ‘Steve’.’ Initially, they were calling me ‘Puj’ but

they have started calling me ‘Steve’ again.”

To be fair, Pujara has also said: “I never felt I was racially abused. I had a wonderful time playing for Yorkshire. I am not sure if that name ‘Steve’ was used for me in that (racist) manner. A friend over there had a hard time pronouncing my name.”

Commenting on Rafiq’s disclosures, the BBC’s sports editor, Dan Roan, said: “It had been expected that this could be a particularly painful day for cricket. But few could have predicted just how chastening, and damaging it would prove. There is a feeling that this could prove a crossroads for the game’s authorities.

“I can’t recall anything quite like it covering sport. Yorkshire is the most successful county in the English game. Yorkshire has produced so many great sides and players, has close ties with the governing body in terms of senior figures — and it has been brought to its knees. It has lost all of its sponsors, the right to host England games and suffered huge reputational damage.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recognise the need to tackle what appears to be a serious underrepresentation in the professional game of both players and coaches. And it knows it needs to tackle the dressing room culture that explains why there are not more players of colour who are playing the game. Having said all that, it is still going to be a painful process. I think there could be more allegations and recovering from Tuesday will not be an easy task.”

It so happens the MCC’s annual “spirit of cricket” Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s was delivered on Tuesday evening by the celebrity writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry who told his audience: “When he (Rafiq) said today that he didn’t want his son to go anywhere near cricket my heart fell to my boots. But actually that simple statement crystallises everything: it gives us a clear human image that says it all.”

Fry described Rafiq’s statement as a “rallying cry”, adding: “Unless all our nation’s sons and daughters with the talent and desire to have a life in cricket are confident that cricket will want to have a life with them, the spirit of cricket, its very flame, will flicker and go out.”