PCB management committee chairperson Zaka Ashraf steps down

By Muhammad Ali

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) interim management committee chairperson Zaka Ashraf resigned on Friday, two weeks before the expiry of the IMC’s tenure that he had headed. Zaka made the announcement during the fourth meeting of the PCB’s IMC at Lahore’s National Cricket Academy. The resignation comes three days after the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) had disallowed Zaka from holding an IMC meeting wherein he was supposed to form the Board of Governors (BoGs), which is the first step to hold the elections of PCB chairman for a three-year term. Zaka became part of PCB on July 6, 2023, after he assumed the role of management committee’s chairman by replacing Najam Sethi. The PCB has not yet announced who will takeover the administration. In November last year, Zaka was given a three-month extension to continue as the head of the PCB via a government notification given by the patron of the board and current interim Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwar ul Haq Kakar. “I was working for the betterment of cricket but have decided to step down. Now it is up to Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, whomever he nominates to take my place,” he added.

In the meeting, Zaka highlighted the “milestones” accomplished during his tenure, including a “significant increase” in PCB contributions from the International Cricket Council, the visit of the Board of Cricket Control of India to Pakistan, the home team securing the number one spot in ICC one-day international rankings, Pakistan hosting the Asia Cup after 15 years and reaching an accord with Cricket Australia on player development, among other accomplishments. During the tenure of Zaka, Pakistan played two major competitions — the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup — but came up short in both tournaments. The Men in Green failed to qualify in the final of the continental tournament while they also couldn’t qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup. After the World Cup, Babar Azam resigned as the captain from all formats and was replaced by Shan Masood (Test) and Shaheen Afridi (T20I). The PCB management committee also removed the coaching staff led by then-director Mickey Arthur. They were moved to the National Cricket Academy, however, they submitted their resignations later. Former captain Mohammad Hafeez was appointed as the team director while ex-pacer Wahab Riaz was named head of the selection committee. Pakistan failed to win a single game under the new leadership. They were whitewashed 3-0 in the Test series against Australia while they have lost the first four games of the T20I series in New Zealand with one match to go.