Ever since getting appointed as the Chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board earlier this month, Ramiz Raja has already met with arguably the biggest problem related to playing cricket in his country - no international team wants to play in Pakistan.

It must be frustrating, infuriating, and even leading to some unrealistic conspiracy theories in the minds of the PCB officials. But the fact remains that none of the foreign cricket boards would risk the lives of their athletes by sending them to Pakistan, especially when their players and their family members have received death threats and intelligence agencies have warned them of potential security risks.

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However, does that mean that Raja gets to throw a punch or two at his Indian counterparts just because all teams are eagerly waiting to come here and play international cricket against the Men in Blue? Well, he sure thinks so.

“Australians have changed their DNA because of money, they play against India happily and without aggressive approach. International cricketers have pressure as now they want to save their IPL contracts where they receive a lot of money plus add-ons,” Raja was quoted as saying to ARY News.

The former cricketer feels that international teams like Australia remain under pressure about getting picked in the Indian Premier League and get their share of the sweet, sweet IPL money and it is because of that, that they would hope to tour India, even if there were potential security threats around the region. 

Clearly, the fans of the Indian cricket team and the BCCI were not going to sit back and listen to such baseless accusations and this is how they retaliated:

What about the Pakistan leage? There also Australian's playing
CricTracker: ‘They changed their DNA because of money’ – Ramiz Raja on Australian cricketers playing with India for IPL contracts’ sake.https://t.co/2SdCedyft5

— Subhasish Mahapatra (@subhasish110) September 26, 2021

'They changed their DNA because of money' - Ramiz Raja on Australian cricketers playing with India for IPL
Mr. Tamiz, have you Yameez.
Seeing India's IPL you all startrd PSL, so why cant you all do the same, you all copy India and then cry when grapes are sour.
Shame on you...

— Sanjay (@Sanjay59449395) September 26, 2021

Australian players have changed their DNA because of IPL money: Ramiz Raja https://t.co/xRcrPKFbR9
-via @inshorts ⁦@iramizraja⁩ People like u ll complain about ur wife’s pregnancy just because there is a potent man in ur neighbourhood. Don’t 4get u2hav earned thru ipl too

— Ankush Kaul (@indianDevil82) September 25, 2021

Australian players have changed their DNA because of IPL money: Ramiz Raja https://t.co/1t6rj1I4Cp
-via @inshorts ⁦@ImranKhanPTI⁩ ⁦⁦@iramizraja⁩ feels pity for you two.
⁦@IndiaTodayTech⁩ ⁦@timesofindia⁩

— Adarsh Nath Singh (@AdarshNathSingh) September 25, 2021

Earlier this month, the New Zealand cricket team, which was already in Pakistan for their first international match in the country in over 18 years withdrew from the tournament after team veteran Martin Guptill’s wife received a death threat about her husband and the New Zealand cricket board also got an email talking about bombing the Black Caps during their time there.

Disappointed with England, pulling out of their commitment & failing a member of their Cricket fraternity when it needed it most. Survive we will inshallah. A wake up call for Pak team to become the best team in the world for teams to line up to play them without making excuses.

— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) September 20, 2021

Soon after the Kiwis, it was the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that decided to cancel both their men’s and women’s tours of Pakistan citing their players being “spooked” by the incidents with the New Zealand team.

Pakistan has the West Indies and Australia scheduled to tour them later this year and Raja believes that the two sides will eventually end up cancelling their tours as well, thereby leaving Pakistan’s international-domestic schedule in absolute shambles.

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