Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja is set to be replaced as per local reports. Geo News reported citing sources on Saturday that former chairman of PCB, Najam Sethi, will be a strong candidate for replacing Raja. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also alluded to possibly replacing Raja with Sethi, the reports added. Najam Sethi reportedly met Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif today in Lahore and which has put Sethi in pole position to be the Chairman.
“PCB’s constitution of 2014 should be restored. After its restoration, departmental sports will be revived,” said sources, quoting the PM. The sources further added that the secretary of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) has forwarded a report regarding the changing of the chairman to the Prime Minister’s House, as reported by Geo News.
Reports previously surfaced talking about possibly replacing Raja as the PCB chairman, however, he rejected the claims and said that he isn’t leaving his post. Former Pakistan captain and 1992 World Cup winner Raja was elected unanimously and unopposed as the PCB’s 35th chairman for a three-year term in September last year.
Talking about Najam Sethi, the 74-year-old stepped down as the PCB chairman in 2018 when Imran Khan became the prime minister. Sethi was appointed on a three-year term in 2017 but resigned after citing a poor relationship with Imran Khan. Sethi also worked as the PCB chairman in 2013 and 2014, as reported by Geo News.
Going back to Ramiz Raja, the current PCB chairman commented on Pakistan’s poor performance against England in the three-game Test series. He said, “Jab aap dono matches haare hote hai toh do teen cheezein negative hote hai - ek, negative mindset, dusra, jo dressing room environment kharab ho sakti hai. Par abhi tak iss team ne waise hone nehi diya, So credit to them.”
(Translation: When you lose two matches in a row, there there are a couple of negative things that can happen - either there could be a negative mindset or there could be a negative environment in the dressing room. But this team has shown neither).