Najam Sethi has pulled himself out of the race to become the next chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). He has more or less stepped down from the position now after heading an interim management committee since last December. Moreover, his tenure was due to end on June 21 but was expected to continue at the position on the long term basis.
Former PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf's name has come up to replace Sethi, however, nothing has been official yet. "I don't want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif. Such instability and uncertainty is not good for PCB. Under the circumstances I am not a candidate for Chairmanship of PCB. Good luck to all stakeholders," Sethi tweeted on his official Twitter handle.
This development in Pakistan Cricket comes amidst the upcoming Asia Cup that is set to take place in hybrid model after India refused to travel to Pakistan. Sethi was the one who presented the hybrid model and finally the Asian Cricket Council approved it thereby giving hosting rights of four matches to Pakistan. Remaining nine matches of the tournament are set to be played in Sri Lanka included the marquee game between arch-rivals India and Pakistan.
As far as the PCB Chairman's post is concerned, according to ESPNCricinfo, two names are set to be nominated - Zaka Ashraf and renowned Supreme Court Lawyer Mustafa Ramday. Ashraf seems to be an overwhelming favourite at the moment. The two nominated names will be added to the board's Board of Governors (BoG) and then one of PM's direct nominees will be elected as the PCB Chairman for next three years.
