'It is political vendetta': Ramiz Raja slams new PCB regime after sacking

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja has launched a scathing attack on the new management committee and its head Najam Sethi who are now in control of the board’s affairs in the country. Raja was removed as PCB head by the Pakistan government on 22 December and was replaced by a Sethi-led 14-member committee to run the board for the next four months.

Even chief selector Mohammad Wasim was removed from his post with Shahid Afridi taking the responsibility on an interim basis.

Ramiz Raja has now come out against the changes at PCB and in a video on his YouTube channel criticised the way the whole transition has been handled.

“To accommodate one person, Sethi to be precise, they had to change the entire constitution (of the PCB). I have not seen this anywhere in the world. It has been done in the middle of a season, when teams are visiting Pakistan. They have changed the chief selector, who had played Test cricket. At 2 am in the night, he (Sethi) tweets that Ramiz Raja is gone. This is my playing field. It hurts,” Raja said on his YouTube channel.

“It has been made out as if a messiah (Sethi) has come, who will take the game to new heights. We know what he is up to. He wants limelight at any cost. He has nothing to do with cricket, and has never lifted a bat. They have changed me midway. In the middle of the season, they are bringing Micky Arthur. Saqlain Mushtaq’s tenure was ending anyway in January. Saqlain has played over 50 (49) Tests, he is a legend. This is no way to treat the cricketers.”

Raja, after losing the PCB chief post inside a year after his appointment, termed the entry of Sethi as a ‘political’ move.

“It frustrates when you are told to step aside midway through after 12 months when you were given a term of three years. This is to fill a political person. It will not help cricket. It leads to pressure on the cricket board, system, national team and captain. The constitution has to be robust. It happens only in Pakistan. I will continue to raise the subject at international platforms. It has become a joke.”

The former cricketer added that the recent incidents are only driven by political vendetta and shared that he wasn’t even allowed to take his things out of his office.

“They did not allow me to take my stuff out of the office,” Raja said. “They don’t have any interest in cricket. The constitution has been bulldozed. It is political victimization and vendetta. There will be no place for excellence when there is no continuity.”

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