After he was sacked from the role of the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), former cricketer Ramiz Raja opened up about the new committee led by Najam Sethi while speaking on his official YouTube channel. Raja was not too pleased about his axing and said that political interference in cricket is not justified.
"There should be no political interference in cricket. The government of Pakistan removed a Test cricketer from the chairmanship of the PCB just to accommodate Najam Sethi. This is a highly disrespectful way of treating your cricketers. The government of Pakistan changed the whole constitution of PCB to accommodate Najam Sethi. I have never seen this ever in my life,” said Raja.
Raja also spoke up about the captaincy of Babar Azam and the impact of the new PCB setup on the batter’s leadership. "I believe in an authoritative captain but Babar Azam has to bring improvement in his captaincy. The new hierarchy in PCB will put pressure on Babar Azam because the captain now has to work with the new management of PCB during the ongoing season,” he added.
Raja bore the brunt of Pakistan's 0-3 debacle at the hands of England, being sacked as the PCB chairman on Wednesday, December 21. former chairman Najam took over the reins after the decision came directly from the Prime Minister's Office.
Ramiz, appointed PCB chairman in September 2021, had to step down from the post following Pakistan's embarrassing Test outing against England at home. The notification, issued by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, was approved by the federal cabinet, which is just a formality. The developments on Wednesday confirmed speculation that Sharif, who is the patron-in-chief of the PCB, had decided to appoint Sethi as the new chairman of the country's cricket body.
He was the fourth former cricketer to be appointed to the post after Ijaz Butt (2008-11), Javed Burki (1994-95) and Abdul Hafeez Kardar (1972-77). Sethi was the chairman and CEO of the PCB between 2013-2018 and resigned soon after Imran and his party won the 2018 general elections.
There was, however, no official word from the PCB or Raja on the latest developments days before the Test series against New Zealand, beginning in Karachi on December 26.
