Ramiz Raja: “This is beyond me. Cricketers should be paid, simple as that. They have a limited career and PCB has a lot to give to the cricketers. If you decrease or withhold the salary of a workforce then it will result in the workforce leaving the job”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former cricketer Ramiz Raja has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) not to decrease limited overs captain Babar Azam or wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan’s salary.
His comments come after reports surfaced that Azam and Rizwan would have their central contracts demoted to a lower category following the team’s dismal performance in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
It should be noted that Azam was Pakistan’s top run-scorer in the tournament with 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
As for Rizwan, he was the second-highest run-scorer with 110 runs in four games, which included a top score of 53 not out, at an average of 36.66 and a strike-rate of 90.90.
Ramiz, who previously served as PCB chairman, admitted that he is worried about the overall impact if the board were to decrease Azam and Rizwan’s income by demoting them down to a lower central contract tier.
“This is beyond me. Cricketers should be paid, simple as that. They have a limited career and PCB has a lot to give to the cricketers. If you decrease or withhold the salary of a workforce then it will result in the workforce leaving the job. This is an incredibly delicate matter that as a punishment you are decreasing or holding back the salary of someone,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“As I have said before, this is a knee-jerk reaction and you can not improve the standard by increasing or decreasing the pay of the cricketers.”
In the T20 World Cup, Pakistan lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to take down Canada and Ireland.
Despite triumphing in those two games, the men in green failed to make it through to the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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