'Received death threats when Australia visited Pakistan' - Ramiz Raja makes startling revelation on PCB tenure

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja has claimed that he received death threats when Australia visited Pakistan last year, which forced him to use a bullet-proof car during his tenure as the cricket board’s chief.

Raja made the statement when asked to give details about the bullet-proof car, estimated to be worth 1.65 crore Pakistani Rupees. At the same time, the 1992 World Cup winner claimed that the car can also be used by his successor Najam Sethi.

“That car is with PCB. I didn't buy that. My successor can also use it. I received death threat. You can't get a bullet-proof car until you face a death threat. That's why I had it,” said Ramiz Raja while speaking to Samaa TV. “I can't reveal the details about it (the threat). But it has been there since Australia came to Pakistan in March 2022. DIG sahab came to my home, there was a whole report that was made. That's why I bought it."

Raja was sacked from his position following Pakistan’s humiliating 0-3 whitewash against England in the home Test series. The Babar Azam-led side went on to suffer a second successive home red-ball series defeat in 2022 as they had lost 0-1 in the three-match Test series against Australia earlier in the year.

With these losses, Pakistan are out of contention of the World Test Championship final race. Notably, under Raja’s tenure, the Men in Green did enjoy some amount of success in white-ball cricket as they made the finals of two multi-nation tournaments - Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup, where they went down to Sri Lanka and England respectively. 

The Babar Azam-led side will next be seen in action during the second Test against New Zealand at the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi starting Monday, January 2.