Ramiz Hasan Raja ( ur, ; born 14 August 1962) is a Pakistani cricket administrator, commentator, YouTuber, and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who served as the 35th Chairman of the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Counc ...

between September 2021 and December 2022. As a player, Raja represented

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

(sporadically as a captain) during the 1980s and the 1990s. He also talks about cricket on his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel ''Ramiz Speaks''.

Early life and education

Ramiz Raja is an ethnic

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir ( ar, مهاجر, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer ...

who's family roots lie in the Indian city of

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

, while on his wife's side, his mother-in-law is from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

and his father-in-law is from

Karnal Karnal ( is a city located in the state of Haryana, India and is the administrative headquarters of Karnal District. It was used by East India Company army as a refuge during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 in Delhi. The Battle of Karnal between ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

. An admirer of Rajasthani architecture, he eventually asked Pakistani architect

Nayyar Ali Dada Nayyar Ali Dada ( ur, نیر علی دادا) (born 11 November 1943) is a Pakistani architect.

to design his Lahore house on the pattern of Jaipur's

Rambagh Palace The Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan is the former residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur located outside the walls of the city of Jaipur on Bhawani Singh road. History The first building on the site was a garden house built in 1835 for the w ...

. His father Saleem Akhtar was a cricketer during the British colonial era who played for

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the old ...

and

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as t ...

after the partition, while his brother

Wasim Raja Wasim Hasan Raja (Punjabi, ur, ) (3 July 1952 – 23 August 2006) was a British Pakistani schoolteacher, match referee, cricket coach and cricketer who played in 57 Test matches and 54 One Day Internationals for the Pakistani national crick ...

and his cousin

Atif Rauf Atif Rauf (born March 3, 1964) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in one Test against New Zealand in 1994. A right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler, he scored 16 and 9 in his only appearance. He is a cousin of Pakistani cric ...

played for the

Pakistan national cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International ...

, with another brother Zaeem Raja having played first-class cricket as well. Ramiz Raja is an alumnus of

Sadiq Public School The Sadiq Public School (SPS) is a college-preparatory boarding school located in Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. It also takes day pupils. It is one of the largest schools in Pakistan and its area of makes it both the largest in the country and i ...

Bahawalpur Bahawalpur () is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. With inhabitants as of 2017, it is Pakistan's 11th most populous city. Founded in 1748, Bahawalpur was the capital of the former princely state of Bahawalpur, ruled by the Abbasi fa ...

, Aitchison College, Lahore and Government College University, Lahore.

Domestic career

Ramiz made his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

debut in 1978, scoring over 9,000 runs in List A and 10,000 runs in first class matches. He remains one of only a few to reach 10,000 first class runs in Pakistan. He got a national call against England. He was regarded as one of the prominent batters playing in Pakistan's domestic cricket.

International career

Golden years

He received his opportunity to play in a

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His performance was unimpressive, as he was dismissed for 1 run in each innings. However, with the retirement of several players in the Pakistan squad and with the help of his years of experience in

, Raja was able to secure a spot in the national side. Ramiz played international

for 13 years, appearing in 57 Test matches, with a career average of 31.83 and scoring two centuries. In the One Day International arena, he played 198 matches and scored 9 centuries. He was a member of the national side that reached the semi finals of the 1987 World Cup. He scored 2 centuries in the 1992 World Cup, which was held in Australia, including a century against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, who had been undefeated during that period. He was awarded the man of the match for his match winning performance which earned Pakistan a place in the semi-finals of the tournament. In

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against England, Ramiz had the honour of taking the final catch which won the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

for Pakistan. This became the pinnacle of his cricketing career, as within a year of this triumph, he had lost form and was dropped from the national side.

Obstructing the field

Ramiz became the first player in One Day International history to be given out "

obstructing the field Obstructing the field is one of the ten methods of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. Either batsman can be given out if he wilfully attempts to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action. It is Law 37 of the Laws of c ...

" against England, in a match at

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

in 1987. England had scored 263 runs for 6 wickets during their 44 over innings. For Pakistan, Raja opened the batting and had reached 98 runs when the last ball of the match was bowled, with Pakistan needing 25 runs to win in the last over. During this last over, he hit the ball and sprinted for two runs that would have given him his century, but was well short of the crease when the fielder's return came towards him and Raja knocked the ball away with his bat and was given out for "obstructing the field".

Late career

He was recalled back to the Pakistan squad and played in the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 after the Wills Navy Cut brand produced by tournament sponsor ITC, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World C ...

. During the 1995–1996 season, he was removed from the captaincy, after Pakistan lost their first home series to Sri Lanka. His final game in a Test match for Pakistan was as captain in the 1996–1997 tour of Sri Lanka, however the team failed to win a match during the series. He retired from all forms of cricket in 1997 and since then he has been active as a television commentator and as an administrator for both Pakistan and international cricket.

Commentary career

Raja has worked as a commentator on ''

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...

'' and

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, during the 2006 England Test series against Pakistan. He has also worked as the chief executive of the

, but resigned from his job in August 2004, citing increasing media commitments. He continues to provide commentary on Pakistan cricket team's tours as well as in many domestic tournaments and international ICC tournaments.

References

External links

*
Ramiz Raja
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raja, Ramiz 1962 births Living people Allied Bank Limited cricketers Islamabad cricketers Cricketers from Faisalabad Aitchison College alumni Pakistan Cricket Board Presidents and Chairmen Pakistan National Shipping Corporation cricketers Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Test cricketers Pakistan Test cricket captains Pakistani cricket captains Muhajir people Pakistani people of Rajasthani descent Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Pakistani cricket commentators Sadiq Public School alumni Service Industries cricketers Lahore City cricketers Lahore City A cricketers Lahore City Whites cricketers Punjab (Pakistan) cricketers St. Anthony's High School, Lahore alumni Government College University, Lahore alumni Pakistani YouTubers Central Model School, Lahore alumni