Ex-South African cricket team manager Goolam Rajah passes away due to COVID-19

On Tuesday, ex-South African cricket team manager Goolam Rajah passed away at the age of 74. It has been reported that Rajah, who was a qualified pharmacist, was in the hospital for some time, supposedly weeks after he was tested positive with COVID-19. Rajah remains the longest-serving Proteas team manager having held the position for 20 years. 

Former South African team selector and an ex first-class player, Hussein Manack said that Rajah dedicated his life to the sport and to serving people who played cricket. He credited Rajah’s work and also said that he always did work to the best of his abilities. Rajah was part of the Proteas team as a manager for 179 Tests, 444 ODIs, and 40 T20Is. 

“He was prepared to do anything for the players at any time of the day or night. That was his level of commitment. Also because of his profession as a pharmacist and his love for the game, he could always help at any time of the day,” Manack was quoted in a report by Sport24. 

Rajah was there in the 1992 World Cup semis and also the 2011 World Cup quarter-finals

Rajah was the team manager and took the Proteas side for their tour to India in 1991 for a three-match ODI series. Clive Rice, who was one of the best all-rounders in world cricket at the time, led the side. This was the South African cricket team’s first series after their reintegration into international cricket after being sidelined for a couple of decades, due to the Apartheid era. 

Rajah was also at the Sydney Cricket Ground in February 1992, when South Africa beat co-hosts Australia in the country’s first-ever Cricket World Cup match. He also looked after the national team when they toured the West Indies after that World Cup. Rajah held the role so long that he has seen several different timelines of Proteas cricket. 

In all, he looked after the national team during a record 13 ICC events, which included the painful 1999 World Cup semi-final exit. He also saw their first and only senior men’s ICC trophy, which happened in 1998 when they won the inaugural ICC Knockout Trophy. He was also in Durban when the team got knocked out of the 2003 World Cup after a misunderstanding of the DL score. His final ICC assignment was the 2011 ICC World Cup when Proteas were knocked out in the quarter-finals by New Zealand in Dhaka.