Pakistan returned to action on Wednesday when the side beat West Indies by five wickets in the first of three ODIs in Multan. Babar Azam slammed a century – his third-successive ton in the format – as Pakistan chased down a 306-run target with four deliveries remaining. This was Pakistan’s first match in international cricket since Australia’s tour to the country in February/March, where the side took part in three Tests, three ODIs and a one-off T20I.
The tour, especially during the Test series, was marred with controversies surrounding the pitches used. Many former Pakistan cricketers criticised Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja for preparing unsporting pitches; the first two Tests ended in dull draws while Australia defeated Pakistan in the final match to clinch the series.
Furthermore, the ouster of Imran Khan as Prime Minister of the country added to speculations over Ramiz Raja’s future as PCB chairman. Former Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad, however, insisted that there is no need to remove Ramiz from PCB, but said things would’ve been different in Pakistan cricket if he was working alongside Imran Khan.
Imran was also the patron-in-chief of PCB.
“Politics should be kept completely separate from sports. If Ramiz is doing well and is leading PCB in the right direction then why should he be removed from power?” Miandad said, as quoted by cricketpakistan.co.pk.
“I have no feud with Imran, I specifically told him not to abolish the departmental cricket but he did not listen to me,” he said.
“Had I been with him [Imran Khan] then things wouldn’t have been this bad.”
Earlier, former Pakistan captain Salman Butt had lashed out at Ramiz Raja over the nature of pitches in Test matches in Australia.
“If you want to judge a captain tactically, Test cricket is the best format to analyse that. But captaincy doesn’t matter when you prepare pitches like these. You can just look at those pitches and say that spinners will play. Result is difficult in five days. The chairman will then say, ‘What else are we supposed to do? Hand them the game?’” Butt had said.
