Pakistan Cricket Board Ramiz Raja says he faced a serious death threat hence he bought a bulletproof car. He made these shocking revelations before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Sports on Monday.
He said that the death threats forced him to purchase the bulletproof car for traveling purposes. Raja said that he does not get any salary and has not availed of any entertainment allowance offered by PCB as of yet. “My salary as PCB chairman is zero,” Raja said. “I haven’t taken any unnecessary perks so far as chairman. I haven’t taken an entertainment allowance and spent just Rs250,000 on my official tours so far.”
“I have also raised the minimum salary, which stood at Rs20,000, in PCB by Rs5,000,” he added.
In the briefing, he informed the committee about the plans for a cricket stadium in Larkana. “I met Chief Minister Sindh [Syed Murad Ali Shah] regarding the stadium in Larkana. We want to improve the standard of cricket in Sindh. In many places, the stadiums are in really bad shape,” he said. Ramiz Raja said that he has talked to the Capital Development Authority in Islamabad about a stadium in the city. He said that PCB hopes to host some of the matches of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in Islamabad.
Chairman PCB Ramiz Raja — "I am given a serious death threat due to which I had to make special arrangements for my traveling including bullet proof car."
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) July 4, 2022
Ramiz Raja said that ever since he has become the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board the success rate of the Pakistan Cricket Team has been 75% across all formats. He says this is the highest success rate among all the Test-playing nations.
Read more: Ramiz Raja protects Pakistani reporters at Dubai Cricket Stadium
Ramiz Raja was appointed the PCB Chairman during the government of PTI. Reports were rife that he will soon be replaced. The report published in Express Tribune claimed that the federal cabinet meeting might discuss the amendments in the board’s constitution along with the potential of removal of Ramiz Raja and Asad Ali Khan from the PCB Board of Governors. His removal will allow Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to appoint a new PCB Chairman under Article 47 of the board’s constitution.
Other unconfirmed reports stated that the decision to replace Ramiz Raja was changed following his satisfactory performance.