Pakistan’s former cricketer Ramiz Raza sent tremors across the
internet when his awkward introduction to Bangladesh’s renowned opener
Tamim Iqbal during a post-match ceremony of PSL went viral.
Tamim’s unbeaten knock of 55 from 47 balls took his team Peshwar Zalmi to a comfortable win by
nine wickets
over Lahore Qalandars in the 5th match of Pakistan Super League at
Dubai, and was chosen as the player of the match, reports Bangla daily
Prothom Alo
.
As the announcer in the post-match ceremony, Ramiz Raza wanted to
have a few words with Tamim, who had just collected his token cheque of
$4,500 as the man of the match. When Tamim came near Ramiz, the
Pakistani ex-player responded with a ridiculously awkward opening line.
Ramiz told Tamim that he cannot speak Bangla, so should he speak in
English? As if Tamim is not comfortable in speaking that language. He
assumed that Tamim probably couldn’t speak in English, and may require
another language to express himself.
When the video of the interview went viral, people were shocked at
Ramiz Raza, particularly for the manner he underestimated Tamim Iqbal,
who has been the premier opening batsmen for Bangladesh for the last
nine years.
As a media analyst, Ramiz Raza is often invited to share his views on
cricket during television shows, and was seen in several Pakistani TV
shows when Pakistan toured Bangladesh in April 2015. He must have seen
Tamim hammer his second consecutive hundred in the second ODI, and win
the man of the match award. When Tamim was called by the announcer to
share his views, he spoke fluently in English! Whenever he spoke during
the post-match press-briefing, he spoke his mind in English.
After having seen so much of Tamim during Pakistan’s maiden ODI-series loss to Tigers, how could Ramiz say something like that?
Ramiz’s list of PSL blunders began on February 5, after the 2nd match
when he nearly called out Kings XI Punjab instead of Karachi Kings and
then called Lendl Simmons by mistake in place of Bangladesh ace
allrounder Shakib Al Hasan for the man of the match award.
Interestingly, Ramim Raza calls Shakib ul Hasan…it is Shakib Al Hasan,
Sir.
