Major Changes in Pakistan Cricket Board: A lot has happened in Pakistan Cricket in the last few days – The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board has been removed, there is a new constitution, the chairman of the selection committee is gone, and Shahid Afridi has enteredas the Chief Selector.
The new PCB executive committee, led by Najam Sethi, has terminated the contract of the chief selector Mohammad Wasim. Moreover, all committees that were created under the revoked 2019 constitution were disbanded. This decision was taken by the new board chairman as soon as he took office on Thursday.
The new PCB management committee, which assumed office on Thursday, dissolved all committees created under the expired 2019 constitution, including the selection committee.
Afridi was first proposed for the management committee but turned it down, citing his desire to focus on his charitable foundation and his inability to do the job properly.
Shahid Afridi Becomes the chief Selector of Pakistan Cricket:
Major Changes in Pakistan Cricket Board: Chairman PCB Sacked, Constitution Revoked, Shahid Afridi is the New Chief Selector
Shahid Afridi has been named as the temporary chief selector of the Pakistani men’s national team in addition to his former colleagues Rao Iftikhar Anjum and Abdul Razzaq.
The task of reviewing the Test team that was announced by the committee led by Mohammad Wasim before his dismissal as head selector as part of a PCB shakeup has been given to the committee. The position is currently only available for the upcoming home series against New Zealand.
Former Chief Selector Mohammad Wasim’s record:
Major Changes in Pakistan Cricket Board: Chairman PCB Sacked, Constitution Revoked, Shahid Afridi is the New Chief Selector
Wasim, a former batter for Pakistan, was appointed as the chief selector of Pakistan in December 2020 and was expected to hold the position until the ODI World Cup in 2023. He was let go by email on Friday, only a few days after choosing the Test team for the domestic New Zealand series.
During his leadership, Pakistan played 16 Test matches, winning eight of them and losing six. The severity of the four home defeats to Australia (1-0) and, more importantly and historically, England (3-0), will be remembered, though. But in white-ball cricket, Pakistan excelled, making it to the final in 2022 and the semifinals of the men’s T20 World Cup in 2021.
Ramiz Raja sacked after government intervention:
The Pakistani government recently sacked Ramiz Raja and his Board by invalidating the 2019 constitution that the PCB was operating under the 14-member committee led by Sethi full administrative authority to work on reinstating the constitution of 2014.
The 2019 department teams in domestic cricket were disbanded after Imran Khan was elected Pakistan’s prime minister (the PM automatically acts as the PCB’s patron).
They will be reinstated under the new constitution. In addition, the board and its organisational structure have undergone revision.
However, two former captains will be unable to participate in the management committee any longer. In order to focus on her work with FICA and as a broadcaster, the former women’s captain Sana Mir has chosen not to serve on the new management committee.
Shahid Afridi declined the committee invitation as well since he is still quite busy operating his nonprofit.
Responsibility of the newly-formed committee:
Major Changes in Pakistan Cricket Board: Chairman PCB Sacked, Constitution Revoked, Shahid Afridi is the New Chief Selector
The newly formed committee has 120 days to elect a chairman, establish a board of governors, and change the PCB charter back to its 2014 form. The chairman’s role will probably double as that of the board CEO as the 2014 constitution does not provide a CEO position.
Even while his administration had a CEO in place on paper in the person of Faisal Hasnain, in practise Ramiz had taken on many of the executive duties himself.
