In the midst of all the controversy currently surrounding the Pakistani cricket team, one man I couldn’t help but feel sorry for when I seen him on my television this morning was Ramiz Raja.
Here is a man who thought he had probably seen Pakistani cricket at its lowest ebbs. Now it appears this might not be the case.
He must have felt embarrassed by the behaviour of certain Pakistan team members when he turned up for work today, on both Sky TV and Test Match Special on Radio, although I’m sure his fellow commentators hold him in high regard and go out of their way to make him feel comfortable.
Ramiz comes across as a man of dignity and great integrity. And this is never more obvious than when time and time again he has to front up to television and radio when his fellow countrymen are making the headlines for the wrong reasons, and he always does so with a sense of fairness and realism.
He also apparently played a large roll in getting the boards of Pakistan and India back round the table during turbulent times in the early 2000’s. No mean feat.
During the 34th over of today’s play when Umar Akmal hit Graeme Swann for 6 into the crowd, Ramiz was commentating at the time and remarked “Dropped catch in the aisle, must have been a Pakistan fan.” It showed a remarkable sense of humour and a lot of character from Ramiz and brought a smile to my face.
Ramiz is a person whom I have the utmost respect for, he represents the good side of Pakistani cricket and he deserves better from his fellow countrymen. A lot of them could do a lot worse than follow the example he has set during his career as a cricketer, administrator and commentator. If they did, I think it would be fair to say that they would be in a far better position than they appear to be in at the moment.
greyblazer
Yeah I think he is a good guy though his commentary can occasionally get funny. I liked it when he said it was a good decent catch against Aus.
He wasn’t a bad captain either though every-time they lost to India PCB seemed to sack him as well lol.
Ceci Masters
Thought he reacted with dignity and grace on Sunday when the allegations were published and he was commentating on Sky. Pleased to see your blog about him
Cricket Betting Blog
Thanks Ceci and GB.
I listen to him a lot on TMS as well on the weekdays throughout the series, and he has always impressed me.
I always remember back in the early 90’s when Asif Iqbal was the overseas summariser for the BBC, and he was absolutely awful and one of the most biased summarisers I have ever heard.
To hear Ramiz Raja in contrast to him is like chalk and cheese, there is simply no comparison between the two of them. Imagine what Iqbal’s views would be on this current scandal?
Anonymous
I think Asif Iqbal is a much better commentator than Ramiz.