Ramiz Raja was an opener to watch during his playing days – the same cannot be said of his commentary though. In 57 tests he made 2833 runs and 5841 in 198 ODIs.
After England beat Pakistan by five wickets in the second Twenty20 international last Sunday, former fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar lashed out at skipper Babar Azam and questioned his captaincy skills. England captain Eoin Morgan led from the front with a blistering 66 runs off 33 balls as the Three Lions chased down a challenging target of 196 in 19.1 overs after losing the toss at Old Trafford.
Drawing a comparison between the two heads, the Rawalpindi Express expressed disappointment and felt that Babar was really confused about his job and often seemed lost during the course of the game. “Babar Azam looks like a lost cow to me,” said Akhtar on his YouTube channel. “He is out there, not knowing what to do. It is important to take decisions on his own so that it could help him become a better captain in the coming times. Babar will need to understand that the chances coming his way are not going to happen for the rest of his life so, he needs to make the most out of it,” Akhtar remarked. The former speedster was equally critical of the Pakistan team management. “Pakistan team are playing in a bio ‘insecure’ bubble, where each player is insecure. No one has an idea about whether they want to become a good captain or a good brand. Confused selection, confused management, confused captain, confused team, and confusion of everything. Teams are not made like this. So go with a set plan and go with one plan,” Akhtar concluded.
Pakistan wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed posted a cryptic tweet after facing social media wrath over a missed stumping in the 3rd T20I vs England. His Urdu text, loosely translated, points to misunderstandings for the trolling he has been facing. This criticism came after Sarfaraz missed an easy stumping of England all-rounder Moeen Ali in the 3rd and final T20I at Old Trafford in Manchester. The mistake almost proved very costly for Pakistan as Ali went on to hit 61, taking England close to the 191-run target. Pakistan, however, won the match by 5 runs. Sarfaraz got his only chance to feature in the Pakistan XI in the 3rd T20I on the tour of England. He did not get to bat in the match. Following this tweet, Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali, who was till recently himself at the end of intense criticism till he came up with a match-saving century in the last Test of the England series, came to Sarfaraz’s defence.
On 25th June, 1983, the Indian cricket team made history by lifting the men’s cricket world cup trophy. The Kapil Dev-led team defeated West Indies by 43 runs and clinched the cup.
A couple of months back, Pakistani cricket commentator and former cricketer Ramiz Raja shared an image on Twitter - a payslip that detailed the payment made to the Indian cricket team players for a one-day international match. According to the image, all fourteen players of the team, including the then-captain Kapil Dev, along with Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and other heavyweights were paid Rs 200 as daily allowance, amounting to Rs 600 over three days and Rs 1,500 as match fee. The total amounted to Rs 2,100/-
Ramiz thought he was annoying Indian cricket fans stating that he was paid a whopping Rs 55,000 for 5 Tests and 6 ODI’s in 1986-87. “Had to reproduce this... will try to get a copy of what we got paid for the Indian tour in 86-87. I remember it to this date what I got: played 5 Tests and 6 ODI’s and got paid Rs 55,000,” he wrote on the microblogging platform. .. .. but the guffaw, he could easily have verified is on that given date 21.9.1983 – there was no Oneday International – and certainly not with Pakistan X1. The match under reference was a charity match, a fund raiser for victims of natural calamity and in all probability, teams agreed to play without fees but were paid some expenses ! which were common those days. . Additional info : Bishan Bedi whose signature is on this, was not the Manager of WC 1983 team it was PR Man Singh.
Without knowing the facts, Ramiz compared it with the amount that was given to Pakistani players in the year 1986-87 perhaps trying to run down BCCI, the richest Cricket board of paying lowly while his Board paying them well. He said he was paid Rs.55000/- for 5 Tests and 6 ODI’s and got paid Rs 55000, which again would translate lowly going by the no. of days involved on a tour – lesser said, for that is how much his Cricketing brain is.
As per the current contracts, BCCI pays 7 crore to players who feature in the premium A+ category. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are three players in the category as they also represent the team across the three formats. There are 11 players who feature in Grade A where they receive Rs 5 crore on an annual basis. 5 players receive Rs 3 crore each in the Grade B category while 8 players, who feature in Category C, receive Rs 1 crore each from the Indian board.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also recently made the salaries of its players public. Babar Azam, Azhar Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi are the three players ranked in the top category by the PCB. Compared to BCCI, which pays 9,27,336 USD each to its players in the top category, PCB pays 81, 576 USD to its players in the top category.
Remember having seen the brother of Ramiz, Wasim Raja playing at Chepauk. A free flowing left hander and a useful leggie, Wasim played 57 tests and 54 one dayers. He died during a match in Buckinghamshire in 2006 aged 54.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
6.9.2020.
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