Daily Times

LAHORE: The new PCB management committee, led by Najam Sethi, has terminated the contract of chief selector Mohammad Wasim and disbanded all committees formed under the now-defunct 2019 constitution. This was the first decision the new board head took after formally taking charge on Thursday.

“We are going to disband all committees today because they were constituted under the 2019 constitution that has been revoked and shall reconstitute them under the new SRO,” Sethi told.

Wasim, a former Pakistan batter, was named chief selector in December 2020 and was expected to stay on till the 2023 ODI World Cup. On Friday, he was let go through an email, only a few days after his last act of picking the Test squad for the New Zealand series at home. During his tenure, Pakistan played 16 Tests, won eight and lost six, though the four losses at home against Australia (1-0) and, more dramatically and historically England (3-0) will weigh heavy. In white-ball cricket though, there was success, Pakistan making the semi-finals of the 2021 men’s T20 World Cup and the final in the 2022 edition. In 55 T20Is while Wasim was around, Pakistan won 34 and lost 18. And in 15 ODIs, Pakistan won ten and lost five.

The Pakistan government recently removed Ramiz Raja and his Board by revoking the 2019 constitution the PCB was operating under and giving the Sethi-led 14-member committee full executive powers to work on reviving the constitution of 2014. Aside from the changes in the board and its structure, that constitution will also bring back department sides into domestic cricket – they had been removed in 2019 after Imran Khan became the prime minister of the country (the PM automatically becomes the PCB’s patron).

The management committee will, however, have to do without the services of two former captains now. Sana Mir, the former women’s captain, has opted out of a position in the new management committee, choosing, instead, to focus on her role with FICA and as a broadcaster. Shahid Afridi, too, has declined the offer to be part of the committee as he remains occupied with the work of his charity foundation.

The new committee has 120 days to change the PCB’s constitution back to the 2014 version, as well as forming a board of governors and selecting a chairman. The role of chairman is likely to double up as, in effect, the board CEO as well – the 2014 constitution does not have a CEO position. Although Ramiz’s administration did have a CEO in place on paper, in Faisal Hasnain, in practice Ramiz had taken on a lot of executive powers himself. That was a significant break in operating standards from the administration before it in which Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan had clearly delineated roles and responsibilities as chairman and CEO respectively.