Cricket fans were not pleased with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja's recent act at the Asia Cup 2022 in the UAE where he misbehaved with an Indian journalist who had asked a question on the Pakistan cricket team after their loss to Sri Lanka by 23 runs in the final. However, almost a week later, Raja has offered an explanation towards his act during a Q&A session with fans on his YouTube channel.
Moments after the defeat in the final in Dubai, an Indian reporter asked Raja about the message he wanted to give to Pakistan cricket fans who were all left disappointed after the result. But the former cricketer was left furious at the question and despite an explanation from the journalist on his question, Raja grabbed his phone to stop the recording. The video had later gone viral all over the internet.
Speaking on his YouTube show, ‘Fans Forum With Ramiz’, he explained that he failed to understand how the reporter managed to know that all Pakistanis were disappointed with the team after their Asia Cup final loss and opined that it was a “provocative” statement.
"Me aapko batata hu. Unke jo questions the, jo line that woh bilkul theek nehi tha. Mera yeh puchne ka point yeh tha ki woh kehe rahe the ki pure janta baari naraz he. Toh maine kaha ki aapko kaise pata he ki pure Pakistani log iss team se naraz he. Kyunki aap 2000 mil dur baithe huye he na. Yeh bharkane wali baatein hoti he. Point yeh he ki agar aapka dil saaf he aur ek cricket bat kar raha he toh yeh cheeze samne nehi aani chaiye. But anyway, woh ek incident tha, woh hogaya. (The question that he asked was inappropriate. The point behind me telling him that was he said that all Pakistanis were disappointed with their cricket team. How did he know that? Because he was some 2000 miles away from Pakistan. It was completely a provocative statement.)," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Me aapko batata hu. Unke jo questions the, jo line that woh bilkul theek nehi tha. Mera yeh puchne ka point yeh tha ki woh kehe rahe the ki pure janta baari naraz he. Toh maine kaha ki aapko kaise pata he ki pure Pakistani log iss team se naraz he. Kyunki aap 2000 mil dur baithe huye he na. Yeh bharkane wali baatein hoti he. Point yeh he ki agar aapka dil saaf he aur ek cricket bat kar raha he toh yeh cheeze samne nehi aani chaiye. But anyway, woh ek incident tha, woh hogaya. (The question that he asked was inappropriate. The point behind me telling him that was he said that all Pakistanis were disappointed with their cricket team. How did he know that? Because he was some 2000 miles away from Pakistan. It was completely a provocative statement.)," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Pakistan had the advantage in the final, having won the toss before Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Wanindu Hasaranga put on a crucial half-century stand to guide Sri Lanka to 170 for 6 in 20 overs. Pramod Madushan (4-34) and Hasaranga (3-27), who picked seven wickets between themselves, then restricted Pakistan to just 147 in their chase to lift the title for the sixth time in history.