‘BJP mindset is marginalizing Pakistan cricket’ – Ramiz Raja continues his rant on India
Ramiz Raja, Shahid Afridi (Image Credit: Twitter)
Former Pakistan chairperson Ramiz Raja‘s rants on Indian cricket don’t seem like stopping in near. During his 15-month tenure with the board, he occasionally used to rant against Indian cricket till September last year. However, when Indian Cricket Board secretary and Asian Cricket Council president Jay Shah announced that India won’t travel to Pakistan for Asia Cup 2023, things changed drastically.
After this, the 1992 World Cup winner threatened that Pakistan won’t travel to India for the ODI World Cup. Last December, he was sacked as the chairperson and replaced by Najam Sethi, who has worked in this post before. The latter has had a subdued stance over the matter. However, the former Pakistan skipper, Raja’s rants against Indian cricket continue to go on.
BJP mindset in Indian cricket is the reason for Pakistan cricket’s marginalization: Ramiz Raja
Raja also blamed ‘the BJP Mindset’ in Indian cricket as the reason for Pakistan cricket’s marginalization. He further added that he introduced Pakistan Junior League and proposed Women’s PSL to decrease the board’s dependence on World Cricket Council’s money. Notably, the former has been scrapped by the PCB as it sustained heavy losses in its first season. Raja also spoke about Apex Council’s income from India.
“Unfortunately, what’s happening with India is that there is this BJP mindset over there. The properties that I had announced, be it the PJL or the Pakistan Women’s League, were done so that we could have our own money-making assets that would fund the Pakistan Cricket Board, which would take us away from the World Cricket Council’s funding, which is crucial right now,” Raja was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
As per the report, Raja made the remarks while addressing a gathering at the Government College University Lahore.
“Our independence gets compromised because most of World Cricket Council’s resources are created in India. If India’s mindset is to marginalise Pakistan then we remain neither here nor there,” he added.
