Lahore Qalandars owner Sameen Rana slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for their decision to terminate the pacer's central contract just two days before the start of the latest edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), saying that the board's way of handling the situation was "pathetic".
The defending champions are going through a very rough campaign so far, losing six of their matches and one ended in no result. Rauf has played four matches so far in the tournament, taking just two wickets. His previous cricketing appearance was the February 24 match against Karachi Kings, ten days after his central contract termination. Rauf injured his shoulder during the match and is expected to stay out of action for six weeks.
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.
"I have never seen this happen anywhere" - Sameer 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.
