Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, in his capacity as the Patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), exercised his authority according to the 2014 constitution by making two nominations for the PCB’s Board of Governors. The nominations are former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf and Advocate of Supreme Court, Mustafa Ramday.
However, prior to the nominations, Najam Sethi, who currently serves as the chairman of the PCB Management Committee, announced his withdrawal from the race to become the chairman of the PCB. Sethi conveyed this decision through a tweet, expressing his desire to avoid becoming a source of conflict between former Pakistan President, Asif Zardari, and Shehbaz Sharif. He emphasized that the instability and uncertainty caused by such conflicts would not be beneficial for the PCB.
Earlier, Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari, the Federal Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC), reiterated that Zaka Ashraf, with the support of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), would be the next chairman of the PCB.
Mazari indicated that there would be no further extension for the management committee, which was initially given 120 days to fulfill its mandate of restoring the 2014 constitution and revive departmental cricket. A four-week extension had been granted to Sethi and his team, which is set to expire on June 20.
Zaka Ashraf had previously served as the PCB chairman during the last PPP government, and it appears that the party’s senior leadership once again desires their candidate to lead the PCB.
