TnT Mirror today, takes a look back at the style, career, record,
achievements and accomplishments of Wasim Raja -- who at the time
of his passing was an ICC match referee.
Born in Multan (hometown of the great Inzamam-ul-Haq 367 ODI caps)
in the year (1952) of Pakistan’s entry into Test play.
Wasim Hasan Raja was the eldest of three brothers, all of whom
played First-Class cricket -- Ramiz followed Wasim into the Test/ODI
team, while Zaeem played for National Bank.
Their father Raja Salim Akhtar also played First-Class cricket
-- captaining Sargodha -- before concentrating on his career in
the Civil Service, where he rose to the position of Home Secretary.
Wasim Raja made his First- Class debut in 1967, aged 15 while
at Government College.
He went on to Punjab University where he excelled at cricket and
academics -- he graduated with a Masters degree (Hons.) in Politics.
Raja came into the Pakistan Test team at Wellington in New Zealand
in 1972/73.
His was a career that lasted a dozen or so years, during which
he played in 57 Test matches and 54 One-Day Internationals.
He was vice-captain of Pakistan -- it is argued to this day by
noted Pakistani cricket analysts/writers and men in the know,
that, he should have been made captain.
In preference to the glorious but diffident Zaheer Abbas or the
great but rumbustious street urchin Javed Miandad.
Wasim Raja was a very outspoken man and did his cause no good
with his many clashes with authorities/players and administrators
of the game in Pakistan.
He played cricket in its truest spirit, for love not money --
he had his own style and always looked to play his strokes and
to entertain.
As a consequence he fell foul of the management for not doing
things their way -- he played cricket with a passion and a pride
but with enjoyment uppermost in his mind.
His jousts with the Pakistan Cricket Board left him on the fringes
of a clique of senior players in the Test team -- unlike them,
he was often chosen on a match-to-match basis -- which invariably
put this talented man under unnecessary pressure to succeed.
All in all he performed a difficult role -- batting in the middle-order
and backing up the frontline bowlers, which is reflected in his
Test record.
As a batsman, Wasim Raja was a glorious left-handed stroke-maker
-- a prodigy at 18 -- the great caliph Imran Khan Niazi, wrote
of him in his book: All Round View -- that “he was in a
special class altogether and batted with a maturity far beyond
his years.”
In the West Indies in 1977 he enjoyed his finest series of his
career -- smashing 517 runs (average 54.44) in the five Test series
-- playing in a carefree manner he top-scored in five of Pakistan’s
10 innings -- hitting 14 sixes in the process.
In short he always reserved his level-best for the West Indies,
in 11 Tests he made 919 runs (average 57.43) hitting seven 50s
and two 100s.
In his First-Class career he made 11,408 runs (average 35.20)
hitting 17 hundreds and took 558 wickets with steady leg-spin
(average 29.02).
Alvida Wasim Sahib!
Goodbye Wasim!
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