Ramiz Raja Questions The Role Of Senior Players Following Series Defeat In England

Former Pakistan opening batsman Ramiz Raja has come down hard on Pakistan’s senior players following a Test series defeat to England in their backyard. Pakistan lost the first Test in Manchester by three wickets from being in front for the most part of the game while the next two resulted in draws, owing significantly to bad light and unhelpful weather conditions. Ramiz Raja questioned the role of senior players to post the loss.

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Pakistan have lost their third successive away series. The other two came in South Africa and Australia last year by a scoreline by 3-0 and 2-0 respectively. The likes of Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Babar Azam failed to deliver in critical times.

Skipper Azhar Ali scored his only hundred in the last Test that saved face while Babar managed only two half-centuries. Asad Shafiq was the poorest of the lot, averaging 13.40 in three games.

Ramiz Raja reckons that there exist problems in Pakistan’s camp for a long time, especially as far as away series go.

Ramiz said that they lost in Australia, South Africa, and now England and he feels that team’s performance keeps declining as and when the series progresses. Perhaps, Mohammad Rizwan was the silver lining for the visitors, who impressed not only with the bat but also with the gloves.

“There are problems in the Pakistan camp, not just of late but from a while now as far as away tours are concerned. This year we lost to South Africa, Australia and now England. We compete in the first Test but progressively our form tapers off as the series progresses,” Ramiz Raja said in his Youtube channel.

The cricketer-turned commentator was critical of senior players, questioning the persistence with them despite repeated failures. The 58-year old calls for new players to get added to the mix and believes that experimentation and ruthless decision-making is the way forward.

“What is the role of senior players? Will they keep on failing and will we still keep playing them? Why are we hesitant to bring in new players, especially batsmen? Decision making has to be strong. Experimentation and ruthless trong decision is the only way up,” the former Pakistan skipper mentioned.

He wanted to become a great Test player and so he became: Ramiz Raja

Amid his countrymen’s disappointing outing, Ramiz Raja did not fail to acknowledge the achievement of England veteran seamer James Anderson. Anderson became the first seamer to breach past the 600-wicket barrier by snaring Azhar Ali’s wicket on day five of the third Test in Southampton.

The Faisalabad-born equalised Anderson’s performance to that of climbing the Mount Everest and lauded the 38-year old for his constant quest for excellence. The two sides will square off in a three-match T20 series, commencing from the 28th.

“James Anderson got his 600th wicket by dismissing Azhar Ali and became the first fast bowler to reach 600 Test wickets. His performance is like someone who has successfully climbed Mount Everest. James Anderson gave respect to Test cricket and thus he got respect in return. He wanted to become a great Test player and so he became,” he added further.

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