Najam Sethi set to replace Ramiz Raja as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif formally initiated the move to oust Ramiz Raja as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Najam Sethi is set to come in as his replacement and lead a new 14 member committee including the likes of Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir will now be placed before the Pakistan cabinet for approval ending days of speculation about the future of the current board. 

Raja’s position had been under threat ever since Imran Khan was removed as Prime Minister in April this year. Raja, 60, was unanimously elected as the board’s 36th chairman in September 2021 with the 1993 World Series winning captain nominating his former teammate on the PCB Board of Governors (BoG). The Shaheens made the semifinals and finals of successive T20 World Series, competed in the final of the Asia T20 and welcomed Australia and England to their shores during his tenure. 

Post a legal vetting of the change, Sethi will officially fill in the spot vacated by Raja. Sethi, who has served as the head coach of PCB in multiple positions between 2003 and 2018. He was also the first chairman of the Pakistan T20 League and monitored the conception of the league in 2016. His committee will now have a four month period during which they have the task to restore the PCB constitution to its 2014 version.

One of the major reasons behind the constitutional revamp is to have departmental units like WAPDA, PIA and SNGPL back in the nation’s first class circuit. In the Imran Khan authorised version of the constitution in 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board chose to do away with departments that have traditionally been associated with the sport in the country so as to  streamline the cricketing structure into six regional sides- Northern Sindh, Central Punjab, Balochistan, Southern Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

While the move to get rid of the historic structure in domestic cricket had its advantages, the PCB was also criticised for the move for it deprived several cricketers of their livelihood. 

Meanwhile Babar Azam’s position as the skipper of the senior team is unlikely to be affected by the restructuring management just yet, even though burbles of a change have grown since the team’s 3-0 whitewash by England in the just concluded Test series. Looking at the previous trends, a change in PCB administration has been followed by new leaders in the squad but Azam has been named to lead the side for the upcoming series against the Kiwis and will be expected to continue into the new year.