By Muhammad Luqman
The board of Governor of Pakistan Cricket Board has unanimously elected journalist Najam Sethi as new Chairman.
He is replacing Shahryar M. Khan who had shown unwillingness to resume as the Chairman of the board on the completion of his term.
Najam Sethi, also the Pakistan Super League (PSL) chairman, had emerged as a clear favourite for the post after Shahryar Khan’s tenure ended. He had been backed by the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the slot.
Former captains Wasim Akram, Ramiz Raja and Rashid Latif had earlier issued statements backing Sethi’s appointment as the new chairman of PCB.
This is Sethi’s second term in charge after the long battle over the leadership of the PCB between Zaka Ashraf and Sethi, which ended in May 2014; there had been multiple leadership changes in the PCB, after Ashraf became the first elected PCB chairman in May 2013.
The Islamabad High Court termed those elections “dubious”, and Sethi was put in charge by the government. Ashraf and Sethi were then alternately reappointed and sacked from the post several times, before Sethi eventually filed a written statement before the court that he will not contest elections for the chairman’s post.
Sethi, however, remained on the PCB’s BoG and head of the Executive Committee (ExCo) to control cricket affairs in Pakistan. In that period, Sethi was involved in the day-to-day functioning of the PCB and became an influential board member with signing authority. Although the PCB did not reveal the ExCo’s functions, it is understood that the committee holds significant influence in the board.
Sethi, 69, a former caretaker chief minister of Punjab, comes from a journalism background. He has also been a driving force behind the Pakistan Super League.
