LAHORE: The former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf is on driving seat after Najam Sethi pulled himself out of the race for the next PCB chairman.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has nominated Zaka Ashraf and Supreme Court advocate Mustafa Ramday for the PCB’s Board of Governors, thus paving the way for new PCB chairman.

Sethi said on Twitter: “I don’t want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif. Such instability and uncertainty is not good for PCB. Under the circumstances I am not a candidate for Chairmanship of PCB. Good luck to all stakeholders.”

Najam Sethi was heading an interim management committee that had been running the board since last December but whose tenure was due to end on June 21.

Traditionally in Pakistan cricket, it is the PM’s appointment to the PCB board of governors who usually becomes the board chairman. Ordinarily, the PCB chairman would be a pick of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) party. But over the last couple of weeks, the PPP has insisted that as they are the ones in charge of Pakistan sports, through the ministry for inter-provincial coordination (IPC) it maintained the right to nominate a candidate of their choosing.

Zaka Ashraf is the overwhelming favorite to be elected, with the election process usually a formality.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023