Ramiz Raja, the former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), provided an explanation for Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis’ abrupt departures from the leadership during his term. The top cricket board undertook a number of changes in December, including a management reorganization.
The PCB made the decision to fire Ramiz from his position as a result of the team’s disappointing performances in the Asia Cup 2022, the T20 World Cup 2022, and the humiliating whitewash (3-0) to England in the home Test series. The former World Cup winner then became furious and blasted the new board led by Najam Sethi for the manner in which he was shown the departure door. However, he was questioned about Misbah and Waqar’s unexpected departures from the stage during an interview with Samaa TV.
“They received their full payments for two years. They were given full respect. As a chairman, it was my right to dismiss them. Even now, they are talking about removing Saqlain Mushtaq and replacing him with Mickey Arthur. I made contracts in such a way that I didn’t want the board to be left with a coaching setup for three years,” Ramiz was quoted as saying by HT. Ramiz said, however, that because of their respective yearly contracts, the pair would have left regardless. Additionally, he said that while he was commentating on the Pakistan games, he became aware of the need for some reforms.
“We had yearly contracts. They (Misbah and Waqar) would’ve left in January/February anyway. We brought new management. It wasn’t easy for me. I’ve played with Waqar, I talked to him in detail. The CEO talked to Misbah,” said the former PCB chief. “It obviously didn’t look good that the change took place a week or 10 days before the T20 World Cup. But I had an idea that we could only go to a certain extent with them. When I used to do commentary, I realized that a change was necessary,” he added.
