15 Interesting facts about Rameez Raja - Style, Integrity and Simplicity

15 Interesting facts about Rameez Raja – Style, Integrity and Simplicity: An articulate voice of cricket world over as a television commentator, Rameez Raja has been an authoritative, informed and sane speaker amidst all the madness. On and off the field, in Pakistan cricket, it will be difficult to find a more stylish man than Raja. As an opening batsman he arrived on the scene as the next Majid Khan. Why he didn’t score more runs in Tests remains a mystery, but his importance to Pakistan’s strong ODI sides of the 80s and early 90s cannot be underestimated. On his 53^rd birthday we tell you some interesting facts you need to know about the popular man.

Here are the 15 Interesting Facts Rameez Raja – Style, Integrity and Simplicity:

1. His brother, Wasim Raja, also played Test cricket for Pakistan and another brother, Zaeem Raja, played First-class cricket in Pakistan.

2. Post his MBA from Punjab University, Rameez went on to work as a banker for American Express after studying at the prestigious Aitchison College.

3. Raja played international cricket for 13 years, appearing in 57 Test matches, with a career average of 31.83 and scoring two centuries. In the One Day International arena, he played 200 matches and scored 9 centuries.

4. He was a member of the national side that reached the semi finals of the 1987 World Cup.

5. He scored 2 centuries in the 1992 World Cup, which was held in Australia, including a century against New Zealand, who had been undefeated during that period.

6. Raja was awarded the man of the match for his match winning performance which earned Pakistan a place in the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup. In the final against England, Raja had the honour of taking the final catch which won the world cup for Pakistan.

7. During the 1995–1996 season, he was removed from the captaincy, after Pakistan lost their first home series to Sri Lanka. His final game in a Test match for Pakistan was as captain in the 1996–1997 tour of Sri Lanka.

8. He retired from all forms of cricket in 1997 and since then he has been active as a television commentator and as an administrator for both Pakistan and international cricket.

9. Raja worked as a commentator on BBC’s Test Match Special and Sky Sports, during the 2006 England Test series against Pakistan.

10. Raja became the first player in One Day International history to be given out by “obstructing the field” against England, in a match at Karachi in 1987.

11. Raja worked as a CEO of the Pakistan Cricket Board, simultaneously serving as a cricket commentator. He resigned from the post in August 2004 citing increasing media commitments as the reason for his decision.

12. Rameez’s Test numbers were not the best – from 57 Tests he scored 2,833 runs at 31.83, which was quite pedestrian. If we consider only openers and No. 3, Rameez (2,386 runs at 30.98) has the worst average among Pakistani’s and the fifth-worst among all batsmen.

13. Not only was Rameez a member of World Cup-winning Pakistan team of 1992, he was also one of the crucial cogs behind Pakistan’s success story. With 349 runs at 58.16 with two hundreds he came fifth on the batting charts.

14. When he scored the fabulous World Cup hundred against New Zealand in 1992, he became only the second batsman (after Viv Richards) to score three World Cup tons.

15. In 1992, Rameez became the first cricketer to take a catch in the last ball of a World Cup. Darren Lehmann is the only other to have achieved this in the final of 2003.