Picture Credit: Twitter
Najam Sethi, the 75-year-old cricket administrator, has made the decision to withdraw his name from the race to be next Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman on June 20, Tuesday. He was given this prestigious post last December, on an interim basis, for the third time, after the departure of previous PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja.
Currently, Sethi is heading the interim management committee, appointed last December by Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, to run the day-to-day operation of the cricketing body.
It had been widely speculated that Sethi was a favourite to become the proper chairman of PCB, after the interim tenure for him and the management committee is due to end on June 21, Wednesday. But in the last few weeks, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), led by Asif Ali Zardari, demanded that their candidate should become the next PCB chairman, because they hold the Sports Ministry in the country, as part of the coalition government with Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML - N), headed by Shehbaz Sharif.
Najam Sethi took to Twitter to send out a tweet regarding the matter overnight, to silence the speculation regarding the PCB Chairman post, which read, “Salaam everyone! 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.”
It has been reported that former PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf, with the backing of PPP, is expected to become one of the two candidates appointed by Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
