Zaka Ashraf is set to become the next Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after being nominated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for PCB's board of governors. Ashraf's first held the Chairman position in October 2011 till former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dissolved the PCB governing body in February 2014.
Najam Sethi was heading the interim management committee to run the PCB operations since the termination of Ramiz Raja's body by the government in December last year. Sethi's tenure was to run till June 21 but the former chairman announced his decision to not contest the election for chairmanship through a Tweet on Tuesday morning (June 20).
"I don’t want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif. Such instability and uncertainty are not good for PCB. Under the circumstances I am not a candidate for Chairmanship of PCB. Good luck to all stakeholders," Najam Sethi wrote in his Tweet on June 20.
According to a report from ESPNcricinfo, Zaka Ashraf and Supreme Court Lawyer Mustafa Ramday have been nominated to join the PCB's board of governors by the nation's Primer Minister who is also PCB Patron. It is reported that Zaka has received backing from the ruling party Pakistan Muslim League and a coalition ally Pakistan People's Party.
Notably, Ashraf and Sethi were involved in a long legal battle during the former's reign as chairman in 2013. Both executives shared the post between 2013 and 2014 till Nawaz Sharif's decision to terminate the PCB body led by Ashraf.
Sethi was initially given 120 days to run the cricketing business in Pakistan. His main task was to bring back the 2014 constitution and form the board of governors and chairman. Sethi recently faced a lot of criticism for his lack of ability to take strong decisions regarding the hosting of the 2023 Asia Cup and Pakistan's involvement in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
