Ramiz Raja Slams Political Interference In Cricket:
Ramiz Raja Slams Political Interference In Cricket
Ramiz Raja slams political interference in cricket terming it an effort to accommodate ‘Sethi and his thugs’!
Ramiz Raja, the recently ousted chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board criticised what he called “political interference,” accusing Najam Sethi, the current PCB chairman, and “his thugs” of changing the cricket board’s constitution to suit themselves.
Raja responded to public questions on his YouTube channel by saying that “no politics in cricket.”
He said it was a game for cricket players and their playing field.
Outsiders who “come and attack and think the work you’re doing is not right” should not be allowed in.
Ramiz continued to criticise the current Gov by stating:
“You changed the entire [PCB] Constitution to bring in one person, Najam Sethi, and to adjust him. I’ve never seen this anywhere else in the world.”
He said there was a way to such processes and bemoaned the fact that the change, along with the change of the chief selector, occurred during the middle of the cricket season, when teams were coming to play.
“You bid farewell to people with respect. He (Sethi) was tweeting at 2:15 am that Ramiz Raja is out and people should congratulate him.”
The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja @iramizraja is no more. The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored. The Management Committee will work tirelessly to revive first class cricket. Thousands of cricketers will be employed again. The famine in cricket will come to an end.
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) December 21, 2022
Raja stated that he was a Test cricketer and that this was his playing field.
“So you are hurt because it seems as if a messiah has come who will take cricket to great heights, although, we know that their motives are different,” Ramiz Added.
“This notion is not even present that they’ve come for the development and advancement of cricket. They’ve come for lordship and they enjoy getting the limelight somehow.
“Nothing to do with cricket and they’ve never picked up a bat and then they’re appointed as the chairman,” Raja said.
Furthermore, Ramiz emphasised that despite being appointed PCB chairman for a period of three years.
He was “sidelined” after just 12 months due to “political interference and a political appointment.”
“Our cricket will be destroyed this way because when there is no continuity and people are brought in like this through backdoor [means] then what will be your level?”
Such appointments, according to Ramiz Raja, put pressure on the entire cricketing hierarchy.
“Only in Pakistan, it happens that you change the constitution to adjust a person or to bring in his thugs.”
Raja said that he will bring up the issue of political meddling in sports at international forums as well.
“Is this some kind of joke with our cricket?” he asked, adding that “people are angry about this.”
Pavan Manzoor is an experienced content writer , editor and social media handler along with a track record of youth-oriented activities in Pakistan and abroad. She was selected as a fully-funded delegate as a leadership fellow in Turkey. She also led a team of 5 volunteers at the week-long Young Professionals Fellowship in Maldives. She is also a member of the Youth Standing Committee on Higher Education.
