My right to drop Waqar and Misbah-ul-Haq as coaches: Ramiz Raja

Ever since he was replaced as PCB chief, Ramiz Raja has been going gung-ho talking about his tenure. Be it how he wasn’t even “allowed to take his stuff” from the office or saying left to him, he would have banned “Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis]” for being “tainted” match-fixing charges after Justice Qaiyyam report. The latest salvo is about his decision to sack Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar from their roles as head coach and bowling coaches days before the 2021 T20 world cup.
“They received their full payments for two years. They were given full respect. As a chairman, it was my right to dismiss them. Even now, they are talking about removing Saqlain Mushtaq and replacing him with Mickey Arthur. I made contracts in such a way that I didn’t want the board to be left with a coaching setup for three years,” Ramiz told Samaa TV.

“We had yearly contracts. They (Misbah and Waqar) would’ve left in January/February anyway. We brought a new management. It wasn’t easy for me. I’ve played with Waqar, I talked to him in detail. The CEO talked to Misbah. It obviously didn’t look good that the change took place with a week or 10 days before the T20 World Cup. But I had an idea that we could only go to a certain extent with them. When I used to do commentary, I realised that a change was necessary,” Ramiz said.
In the past, Misbah had briefly spoken about the issue. “Ramiz bhai came up with his own vision, so we decided to step down with respect,” Misbah said during the interview. There wasn’t any difference between Ramiz Bhai and us. We were a part of previous management who brought us with a vision, and we worked together. Ramiz Bhai came up with his own vision. He didn’t want to work with us, so we thought to resign,” he told A Sports.

Misbah wasn’t bitter, publicly at least; in fact he even placed his hopes on Ramiz doing a good job as PCB chief as he was a cricketer. “I think Ramiz bhai knows the problems of cricketers. He understands Pakan cricket being a part of it for so many years. Who can do a better job than him at PCB’s office. From pitches to financial aspects of players, Ramiz Bhai knows everything so well, and he can take things forward. Also, he has done commentary for many years, so it is helpful for him to build relations with other countries.”