He told Wisden.com another story about his early days in the game. "There was me, Adil Rashid, Ajmal Shahzad and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. We're walking onto the field and one player said: 'There's too many of you lot. We need to have a word about that.'
I've had the same sort of comment thrown at me in a joking manner all the time, as have many others like me.
While it's rarely ever said with sinister intentions and you may even laugh it off, the volume of this crap you get day in and out eats at you and changes your behaviour in subtle ways that you won't even notice.
"There were times I did things to try and fit in that, as a Muslim, I now look back on and regret. I'm not proud of it at all."
This is a feeling all too familiar.
You subconsciously change so many little things to try and fit in. It's really hard to explain but you start seeing your culture as somehow less desirable.
The people making these comments always feel like they're pretty harmless and even humorous at times - and to be fair, in isolation that's often the case. It's important to acknowledge and find humor in our differences.
But these people need to understand that the daily grind of trying to fit in and being constantly reminded of how different you are is a ****ing tiring thing to live with.
You as an individual may not be racist and your one off comment may not be malicious, but I can guarantee the person it's directed to has heard it thousands of times and that's what makes it a problem.