Ramiz Raja's tenure as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief has come to an end after the country’s government removed him from the post and appointed a 14-member committee, headed by Najam Sethi to run the affairs of the game for the next four months.
The changes were made after England won the recent Test series 3-0 in a dominating fashion. Pakistan was whitewashed 3-0 in Tests at home for the first time ever in their cricketing history, while also losing four consecutive Tests for the first time after a long period.
The new changes issued by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif were also approved in the Pakistan cabinet, which through a notification late on Wednesday, removed Raja from his post as PCB chief.
The notification further states that the PM has “reviewed” the 2014 constitution of the PCB and abolished the existing constitution made in 2019.
The 14-member management committee nominated by Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif and with Sethi as the head features four prominent cricketing names- Pakistan women’s captain Sana Mir, former Pakistan men’s captain Shahid Afridi and former Test players Shafqat Rana and Haroon Rashid.
Other members of the committee include Shakil Sheikh (ex-PCB BoG), Gul Zada (ex-PCB BoG) Nauman Butt (ex-PCB BoG), Aized Syed (ex-PCB director NHPC), Tanvir Ahmed (ex-president Larkana Region), Advocate Supreme Court Mustafa Ramday and Chaudhry Arif Saeed (CEO Service Industries).
Najam Sethi also shared the document showing that the cabinet had also approved the restoration of the 2014 PCB constitution. PM Sharif, who is the patron-in-chief of the PCB, had decided to appoint Sethi as the new chairman of the country’s cricket body.
Raja served as PCB chairman for 15 months after he was appointed by former premier Imran Khan to head the board in September 2021. The former Pakistan captain was only the fourth cricketer after Ijaz butt, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, and Javed Burki to become the PCB chief.
For Sethi, it will be his 4th tenure as the PCB chief, as he last held the post in 2018 when he resigned when Imran Khan became the Pakistan PM.
Sethi on Wednesday took to Twitter and wrote, ”The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja @iramizraja 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.”
