Najam Sethi PCB Chairman: The pattern of the new Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman with the new Government continues as Ramiz Raja was removed yesterday, with ex-chairman Najam Sethi to replace him.
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, formally initiated the current board as soon as after the removal of Ramiz Raja. With this, finally, the speculations and rumours came to an end as many reports revolved around social media related to this change.
Shehbaz Sharif, who is also the patron of sports, initiated a 14-member management committee by appointing former board head Najam Sethi, who is a famous media analyst as well.
Interestingly, former captains of Pakistan cricket men’s and women’s teams, Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir will take interim charge of affairs.
The committee will have four months to change the Pakistan cricket board’s constitution and to bring back the 2014 version to replace it with the current one, which was put in place in 2019.
Yesterday, Najam Sethi tweeted in which he wrote:
Najam Sethi PCB Chairman Take Over from Chairmanship from Ramiz Raja
“The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja is no more. The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored. 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.”
A formal Notification of change was released earlier from the Prime Minister’s office, which said:
“Constitution of a management committee to manage the affairs of PCB with full executive powers to effect 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 timeframe of 120 days. The management committee of PCB shall comprise of the Chairman/Chief Executive & required members.”
Moreover, a summary also was released from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), which ended the speculation over the last couple of days.
According to the constitution, notification will be sent to the Law and Justice division for legal vetting before putting it in front of the cabinet for approval. However, all of the process mentioned above is merely a formality.
Najam Sethi PCB Chairman Take Over from Chairmanship from Ramiz Raja
Najam Sethi was Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman from 2013 until 2018. His tenure was initially embroiled in legal battles with his predecessor Zaka Ashraf, and he resigned from the chairmanship when Imran Khan became the Prime Minister in August 2018. He oversaw the birth of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and was the league’s first chairman.
He was also in charge when the international sides came to Pakistan after the lengthy ban imposed after the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore.
Ramiz, his position was consistently in danger since Imran Khan was removed as Prime Minister. He brought him in September 2021, saying Ramiz is the best person to handle cricket matters in the country.
However, the pattern of the new Pakistan Cricket Board chairman with the new government kept Ramiz’s job under the radar, and the former cricketer was finally removed yesterday.
What is PCB?
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sport governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organizing all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Council since 1952, it represents the country’s men’s and women’s national teams in international cricket tournaments played under the ICC.
Pakistan was admitted to the Imperial Cricket Conference (currently known as International Cricket Council) in July 1952, and has since been a full member, playing Test cricket. The team’s first Test series took place in India between October and December 1952.
