Before the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup, there has been a ruckus in Pakistan cricket. PCB chairman Najam Sethi has increased the problems of Pakistan cricket by tweeting. In fact, Najam Sethi has pulled himself out of the race for the next PCB chairman. In such a situation, he will now step down from this post within six months. Najam Sethi replaced Rameez Raja as the interim chairman of the PCB.

Pakistan Cricket Board's interim chief Najam Sethi on Tuesday said that he will not seek a permanent position on the board after pulling out of the race for the next PCB chairman. Sethi said he did not want to be a "subject of contention" between the country's top political leaders - Pakistan People's Party Chairman Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

With this announcement, the way has been cleared for Zaka Ashraf to become the PCB chairman again. In a late-night tweet, Sethi said, "Greetings everyone! I don't want to be the bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif. This kind of instability and uncertainty is not good for PCB. In these circumstances, I will take over as PCB chairman." Not a candidate. Best wishes to all the stakeholders."
The development could have an impact on the upcoming Asia Cup and the ICC World Cup. PCB has had to face a lot of problems in recent times due to politics. Both parties in the ruling coalition government at the Center – the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and the Pakistan People's Party – wanted their nominees as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

The PPP is pushing for Zaka Ashraf as the chairman because they believe that Najam Sethi was brought in as the chairman of the Cricket Management Committee to run PCB affairs and conduct new elections and restore the 2014 constitution. He said it would be a conflict of interest if he contested, while Shahbaz Sharif indicated that Najam Sethi would continue in his post.

Sharif, who belongs to the PML-N, had in fact held two meetings with Sethi recently, indicating that Jaka would not be nominated by the premier for the election of the Speaker. Ironically, both Sethi and Zaka also came face-to-face in court in 2013/14 for the post of PCB chairman. Both were then supported by their parties and eventually, Sethi won the battle.

(pc amarujala)