'If I was the decision maker, I would've banned Akram, Waqar forever'- Ramiz Raja's makes explosive revelations

Ramiz Raja: (Image Source: Twitter)

Ramiz Raja was recently ousted as the chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board and was replaced by Najam Sethi. Now, Raja has come into the limelight again by revealing some explosive revelations about Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Abdul Razaq. He made these huge statements about them when he referred to the Qayum report on match-fixing.

Akram and Younis, both big figures in the Pakistan Cricket circles, were named in the report. Akram was fined and the captaincy was taken away from him when the report was made public. Fines were imposed on Younis as well. The duo came back and served Pakistan Cricket for a long time. The left-arm pacer was primarily a broadcaster and the right-arm pacer had served twice as the coach of Pakistan.

Whoever is tainted, i have zero tolerance for them - Ramiz Raja

“I think no one should have had the chance (of coming back to Pakistan cricket). If Wasim Akram's name is in there, and he was censured for not cooperating, right? It was a borderline case. If I was the decision maker at the time, I would've banned them forever,” Raja said. This is a big statement which is coming from the former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman considering that the two fast bowlers were all-time greats of Pakistan Cricket.

“You brought them back to the system. I wasn't in power at the time. We were told to play with them and work with them, and that was it. No one knew how to tackle that. So many people were involved in that. I don't know what the compulsion was.” Raja added. Akram picked up 512 wickets in the ODI format for Pakistan whereas Waqar Younis picked up 416 wickets in the ODI format for the Men in Green.

When asked if his stance remains the same on the Pakistan trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, and Mohammad Asif – who were also banned after spot-fixing charges in 2010 – he said,

“Whoever is tainted, I've zero tolerance on it.” “I'm absolutely clear. People say they've had the punishment, move on. But I've experienced such situations,” Raja said when asked about the trio of Mohammad Amir Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt. Amir was left out of the Pakistan Team till the time the PCB was headed by Raja.