KARACHI: Najam Sethi took office as the head of a new 14-member interim management committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday, a day after the government removed Ramiz Raja as its chairman and reappointed the political analyst widely considered to be sympathetic to deposed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The government has also repealed the constitution of the top cricket governing body and restored it to the 2014 position, aiming to bring back regional departments into the fold of domestic cricket.
Thank you all cricket enthusiasts for welcoming change in PCB affairs. Please wish our team good luck going forward. There is a lot of work to be done and some undone!
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) December 22, 2022
Sethi said in a tweet that thousands of cricketers will be employed again and “the famine in cricket will come to an end.”
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.
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) December 21, 2022
Sethi served as PCB chairman between 2013-2018 although he fought legal battles with his predecessor Zaka Ashraf before being replaced by Ehsan Mani after former star cricketer Imran Khan took over as the prime minister.
Mani abolished departmental cricket from the domestic cricket and squeezed it into six provincial-based teams at the behest of Khan. However, several cricketers and former governing board members had been urging the government to bring back departments into the domestic cricket fold.
Mani didn’t accept an extension after his three-year tenure ended last year and Khan brought in Ramiz as the new PCB chairman. Ramiz continued to serve as PCB head despite Khan’s government ending earlier this year and Shahbaz Sharif becoming prime minister.
It is a normal practice in Pakistan that a prime minister, who is also the patron in chief of the PCB, appoints the country’s head of the cricket board through direct nomination.
The new management committee also includes former captain Shahid Afridi and ex-captain of the national women’s team Sana Mir.
BREAKING: Ramiz Raja officially remove as Chairman PCB, PM named 14 member Management committee to run PCB affairs led by Najam Sethi pic.twitter.com/xIf6EzPdTi
— Abdul Ghaffar (@GhaffarDawnNews) December 21, 2022
The government has given the committee 120 days to not only restore departments in its domestic cricket setup but also form a new board of governors.
During Ramiz’s tenure, Pakistan played the semi-finals and the final of the T20 World Cups in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia respectively and also qualified for the final of the T20 Asia Cup.
However, Pakistan didn’t fare well in Test matches at home and flat, grassless pitches remained the focal point. Australia recorded a 1-0 win when it toured Pakistan after more than two decades in March and England handed Pakistan its first-ever 3-0 whitewash at home ending Tuesday.
The wickets prepared for these twin tours came under severe criticism for Pakistan’s loss. The wicket at Pindi Cricket Stadium received one demerit point from the ICC in March when only 14 wickets fell over five days during the drawn Test match against Australia.
Although England won by 74 runs to open its first Test tour to Pakistan in 17 years in dimming light on the last day, the pitch at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium received another demerit point earlier this month.
New Zealand arrived in Pakistan on Thursday for two Test matches and three ODIs, starting with the first Test at Karachi starting Monday.
