Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most celebrated skipper to have led India in all 3 formats. Yes, he is at the twilight of his career, but he still runs like a teenager and clears the biggest boundaries with utmost ease. MS Dhoni recently received an ‘A’ grade contract from the BCCI, but it seems that is not going down well with this Pakistani. Yes, we are talking of former Pakistani opener Ramiz Raja and he the the offender this time.
According to Network 18, Raja said, “You have to acknowledge and respect the status of Test match cricket and it has to come from the cricket boards, in Asia specifically. For example, MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from the BCCI, Shahid Afridi retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from PCB.”
“It is under a lot of stress in Asia but if we have a properly planned Test match championship, that’s the way out of this, otherwise we will be struggling to put aside as much money as is available for the T20 leagues,” Raja insisted.
“Unfortunately, the superstar syndrome has distorted the system of Indian team contracts. As you will recall, I had pointed out that awarding MS Dhoni an ‘A’ contract when he had explicitly ruled himself out from all Test matches was indefensible on cricketing grounds, and sends absolutely the wrong message,” he concluded.
This is an unwanted statement coming at a time when Pakistan has lifted the ICC Champions Trophy crown.
Earlier, another former cricketer Aamir Sohail made a gaffe by saying that the Pakistan team made the finals on the back of match-fixing. That news spiraled for a while but was rubbished and brushed under the carpet.
Bottomline: The timing of this statement is questionable as it was done when there are questions being raised about his position in the Indian mix. Rishabh Pant is waiting in the wings and the general notion is that he should get a go ahead of MS Dhoni. Hence, we feel Ramiz has a bigger motive in creating pandemonium in the team.
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