Lahore Qalandars' Owner Slams PCB For 'Pathetic' Treatment Of Haris Rauf

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Lahore Qalandars owner Sameen Rana criticised Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) weeks after it terminated the central contract of pacer Haris Rauf two days before the start of PSL 2024.

Rana felt the PCB's way of handling the situation was pathetic. The reigning champions have suffered severe defeats in six of their games thus far, with one ending in a draw. Haris Rauf has participated in four tournament games thus far and has only claimed two wickets.

Ten days following the termination of his central contract, on February 24, Haris Rauf had a shoulder injury during a PSL league stage match against Karachi Kings and will likely miss six weeks of action.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Rana said that the whole situation surrounding Rauf's contract affected his team's PSL campaign and the way information was shared with the player was "really poor management".

"The timing of that announcement was wholly unnecessary. 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," said Rana.

Qalandars earlier dealt with this whole situation privately, not expressing their anger in public. Shaheen Shah Afridi, the team's skipper told ESPNCricinfo just before PSL that the board will "understand in time" that making such a decision before PSL started was not correct.

"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," Rana said.

"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.

The decision to terminate Rauf's contract came after he made himself unavailable for the three-Test series in Australia last year. This move was criticised publicly by chief selector Wahab Riaz, who felt that the 30-year-old's absence would hurt Pakistan and that the terms of his contract mandated his presence in a long format. Pakistan lost that series 3-0.

The disciplinary proceedings against Rauf were not made public by PCB, who issued a statement on February 15 that Rauf's response during the personal hearing were not satisfactory and hence his contract was being terminated. This termination also makes him ineligible to play any overseas T20 league competition till June 30 this year.

Rana said that this development put Qalandars on the "receiving end". Their campaign in the ongoing season has suffered due to injuries, player unavailability and inconsistent performances.

Rana further added, "I do not 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 cannot pretend it does not affect you. Especially when it is your country, something you are emotional about anyway. And especially Haris, who is a naturally emotional person.

"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 cannot control that," he concluded.

-With inputs from ANI