Lahore Qalandars’ owner said that the timing of PCB’s decision to terminate Rauf’s contract was not right and called it a huge psychological blow for the pacer.
Lahore Qalandars’ owner Sameen Rana has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board for their recent treatment towards Haris Rauf. The cricket board took a bold decision by terminating Rauf’s central contract last month. Things turned bad for Rauf when he refused to join the Pakistan team for a three-match Test series against Australia in December-January and played for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.
PCB terminated Haris Rauf’s central contract last month.
Meanwhile, more than a month later, PCB decided to terminate his contract stating, “Refusal to be part of Pakistan’s Test squad in the absence of any medical report or justifiable reason is a material violation of the central contract.”
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Rana said that the timing of PCB’s decision to terminate Rauf’s contract was not right and called it a huge psychological blow for the pacer just before the PSL.
“The timing of that announcement was wholly unnecessary,” Rana told ESPNcricinfo. “There was no Pakistan series coming up, or any emergency situation that necessitated the announcement two days before the PSL. Whatever the logic was, the timing was really bad. It was a huge blow psychologically for him, because his whole life’s main aim is playing for Pakistan.”
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Rana termed PCB’s treatment of Rauf a public humiliation and revealed that Rauf didn’t even get the chance to contact the authorities after contract termination.
“Rauf’s our premier bowler, our highest wicket-taker after Shaheen Afridi. To publicly humiliate him and issue a press release announcing the termination of his central contract, I have never seen this happen anywhere. I would never treat my employees like that. The employee at least has the right for you to call, email or message them. None of that happened with Rauf, and it was pathetic. It was really poor management,” he added.
Rana further pointed out that it affected Rauf’s performance as Lahore Qalandars were on the receiving end of it with their poor start to the season.
“I don’t know what the PCB was thinking; I was on the receiving end. Haris was our premier fast bowler. If someone treats you like that, you can’t pretend it doesn’t affect you. Especially when it’s your country, something you’re emotional about anyway. And especially Haris, who is a naturally emotional person,” he added.
However, the franchise owner is trying to make sure all the players in the franchise stay in the right frame of mind.
“It was an additional responsibility on me and the whole team to keep motivating him, and keeping him in the right frame of mind. He is a very strong boy, but again, a negative thought can creep into your brain. But unfortunately, after he seemed to be returning to form and performed brilliantly, he got injured. Of course we can’t control that,” he added.
