Ramiz Raja blames 'off-field turbulence' for Pakistan’s performance in ODI

Former Pakistan cricketer Ramiz Raja has blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for unsettling the national side after the Babar Azam-led unit suffered a one-day international (ODI) series defeat at the hands of New Zealand.

“The on-field performance is reflecting the off-field turbulence, unfortunately,” Raja said on his official YouTube channel.

“While the team already has a coach, you went to Mickey Arthur and openly said Pakistani coaches are rubbish and get involved in politics, so we are going to bring foreign coaches. They went to a foreign coach during a series and eventually, the coach said he wasn’t available”, Raja criticised.

He added: “These things are supposed to happen in-house, behind the scenes. Even if you want a change, you do it quietly and give due respect to your coach.

“But when you go against a coach like this, it kills his passion and drive, and the team inevitably comes under pressure, which it was already under.”

Last month, the chairman of the PCB management committee, Najam Sethi, hinted that foreign coaches could be hired for the national team with Mickey Arthur being the top contender for the head coach position.

The Pakistan men’s cricket team’s coaching staff is led by former off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq: meanwhile, Mohammad Yousuf is the batting coach.

“Our local superstars and former players will be employed, we will look after them and find them jobs but they won’t be coaching the team,” Sethi told media in Lahore.

“When I was in power, we had Mickey Arthur and results were evident. We were world number one in both ODI and Test cricket, and we won the Champions Trophy as well.”

However, a few days ago, PCB stated that appointing Arthur was “proving difficult to materialise for various reasons on both sides”.

However, the PCB added that it will “continue its search for the right person to fit the slot of the national team head coach and some top names are already under consideration”.