Wasim Raja

Pakistan

Personal Information
Born
Jul 03, 1952
Death
Aug 23, 2006 (55 years)
Birth Place
Multan, Punjab
Height
--
Role
Batsman
Batting Style
Left Handed Bat
Bowling Style
Right-arm legbreak
ICC Rankings
 
Test
ODI
T20
Batting
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Bowling
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Career Information
Teams
Pakistan
A suave left-handed batsman with an eye-catching moustache, Wasim Raja, was one of the finest from the stables of Pakistan. He was an agile fieldsman and a handy leg-spinner to boot. Born in...
Full profile
Batting Career Summary
M Inn Runs BF HS Avg SR NO 4s 6s 50 100 200
Test 57 92 2821 3646 125 36.17 77.38 14 291 27 18 4 0
ODI 54 45 782 1168 60 21.72 66.96 9 58 11 2 0 0
T20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
IPL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bowling Career Summary
M Inn B Runs Wkts Avg Econ SR BBI BBM 5w 10w
Test 57 69 3860 1826 51 35.8 2.84 75.69 4/50 6/86 0 0
ODI 54 29 1020 687 21 32.71 4.04 48.57 4/25 4/25 0 0
T20 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 -/- -/- 0 0
IPL 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 -/- -/- 0 0
Career Information
Profile
A suave left-handed batsman with an eye-catching moustache, Wasim Raja, was one of the finest from the stables of Pakistan. He was an agile fieldsman and a handy leg-spinner to boot. Born in Multan, Wasim was the eldest of three cricketing sons. Rameez Raja represented Pakistan at the top level whilst Zaeem Raja played first-class cricket for Multan and Lahore.

Wasim tallied 3,600 runs and 72 wickets in 111 five- and one-day internationals between 1973 and 1985, his Test appearances yielding 2,821 runs at 36.16, with four centuries. While his batting carried the stamp of elegance, his bowling was under-rated. Raja also had a nifty googly up his sleeve, which hoodwinked the best in the business like Glenn Turner, Viv Richards and Clive Llyod. He progressed to the big stage after stacking up massive runs in age-group cricket.

However, as good a talent Wasim Raja was, he was unpredictable and brash.

Quite interestingly, Raja reserved his best for the West Indies. His average in 11 Tests against the then Caribbean bowling attack comprising, Malcom Marsh, Colin Croft and Andy Roberts was a whopping 57.43.

Post retirement, he enrolled himself into Durham University for a teaching degree. He later coached the Pakistan Under-19 team and served as an ICC match referee.

In a cruel quirk of fate, he died of a heart attack when he was playing for Surrey-Over 50's at Marlow in August 2006.

By Deivarayan Muthu
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