ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday constituted a 14-member management committee to supervise the affairs of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and appointed Najam Sethi as its chairman until the fresh election for the top post within a span of four months.
Sports analysts anticipated a change at the PCB since the ouster of ex-premier Imran Khan earlier this year who had appointed former test cricketer Ramiz Raja to manage the sport’s governing body in September 2021.
Khan’s administration also introduced a new PCB constitution in 2019 which brought departmental cricket to an end and kept prime ministers from removing the board’s chairman at will.
The PM Office notified the 14-member committee, which includes former Pakistani skippers Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir, while saying the list of names would be presented to the federal cabinet for approval.
The sports ministry also announced that the 2019 PCB constitution had been replaced by one that existed before it and was first implemented in 2014.
“[T]he Federal Government is pleased to constitute a Management Committee to manage the affairs of PCB with full executive powers with the aim of effecting the restoration of Departmental Cricket Structure and other allied matters, including the nomination of a Board of Governors and election of Chairman, as stipulated in the 2014 constitution, within a time frame of 120 days,” said the ministry.
Sethi, who worked as PCB chairman from 2013 to 2018, said in a Twitter post the “cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja @iramizraja is no more.”
“The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored,” he continued. “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.”
Sethi introduced the Pakistan Super League (PSL) tournament during his tenure and managed to bring various international teams to the country after years of isolation in the wake of a 2009 militant attack against the Sri Lankan squad in Lahore.
The change at the PCB has come at a time when Pakistan is getting ready to host New Zealand for a Test series which will begin in Karachi from Monday.
