In a major change in Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) administration, former cricket administrator Najam Sethi will replace Ramiz Raja as PCB chief. Pakistan’s leading newspaper Dawn reported that a 14-member management committee has been nominated by Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif and Sethi will head it to run the affairs of the board. The cricket board elections are to be held within the next four months.
The Pakistan government, through a notification late on Wednesday, removed Raja following the team’s 3-0 whitewash by England in the Test series.
The notification, issued by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, has to be approved by the federal cabinet, which is just a formality.
The developments on Wednesday confirmed speculation that Sharif, who is the patron-in-chief of the PCB, had decided to appoint Sethi as the new chairman of the country’s cricket body.
Reacting to the development, Sethi on Wednesday took to Twitter and wrote, ” The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja @iramizraja is no more. The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored. The Management Committee will work tirelessly to revive first class cricket. Thousands of cricketers will be employed again. The famine in cricket will come to an end.”
The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja @iramizraja is no more. The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored. The Management Committee will work tirelessly to revive first class cricket. Thousands of cricketers will be employed again. The famine in cricket will come to an end.
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) December 21, 2022
The 14-member body includes Shakil Sheikh (ex-PCB BoG), Gul Zada (ex-PCB BoG) Nauman Butt (ex-PCB BoG), ex-Test cricketers Haroon Rashid, Shahid Khan Afridi and Shafqat Rana, Sana Mir (ex-Pakistan women team’s captain), Aized Syed (ex-PCB director NHPC), Tanvir Ahmed (ex-president Larkana Region), Advocate Supreme Court Mustafa Ramday and Chaudhry Arif Saeed (CEO Service Industries).
The news of a change in the PCB set up came on the backdrop of Pakistan’s defeat in the Test series against England at home. The Three Lions powered to an eight-wicket win in the third and final Test on Tuesday to complete a historic series sweep in Pakistan. It was Pakistan’s first-ever 3-0 loss in a three-test series on home soil. Ramiz Raja, who was elected for a three-year term in September last year, prematurely leaving the office. It is an end to his second stint with the PCB, after serving as the PCB chief executive from 2003 to 2004.
Raja became only the fourth former Pakistan international cricketer to head the PCB after Abdul Hafeez Kardar (1972-1977), Javed Burki (1994-1995) and Ijaz Butt (2008-2011). As a cricketer he represented his country in 255 international matches and racked up 8,674 runs.
Sethi, 73, previously served the PCB as its Chairman from 2013 to 2014.
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