India, June 5 -- Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali has revealed that he was heavily advised against joining Yorkshire earlier this year for the T20 Vitality Blast.

The reason was the 2020 Azeem Rafiq scandal in which the player concerned had accused some of his Yorkshire team-mates of racism and bullying. The whole episode brought Yorkshire a lot of bad press. It eventually culminated in five players being found guilty.

But Ali ignored those voices after Yorkshire captain and former England team-mate Jonny Bairstow had a word with him and urged him to join his team, which also meant Ali coming out of his domestic retirement. "A lot of people I spoke to advised me against coming to Yorkshire, and that actually made me want to come eve...