Shehbaz Sharif appoints Sethi as PCB Chairman
Islamabad, The Gulf Observer: Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif appointed Najam Sethi as PCB Chairman, the move to have Ramiz Raja ousted as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board has been formally initiated by Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan who is also the Patron of the board.
A new 14-member committee headed by Najam Sethi and including former Pakistan cricketers Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir will now be placed before the Pakistan cabinet for approval ending days of speculation about the future of the current board.
Raja’s position had been on flimsy grounds ever since Imran Khan was removed as Prime Minister in April this year. Raja, 60, was elected unanimously and unopposed as the board’s 36th chairman in September 2021 with the 1992 World Cup-winning captain nominating his former teammate on the PCB Board of Governors (BoG).
During Raja’s tenure, Pakistan made the semifinals and finals of successive T20 WCs, played the final of the Asia Cup and welcomed Australia and England to their shores, signalling the full-fledged return of international cricket at home.Pending a legal vetting of the change, Raja will be replaced by Sethi, who has served as the head of PCB in multiple positions between 2003 and 2018. He was also the first chairman of the Pakistan Super League and oversaw the conception of the league in 2016. His committee will now have a four-month period during which they’ll be tasked with restoring the PCB constitution to its 2014 version.
