Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reportedly removed Mohammad Zaka Ashraf from the post of the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in the latest twist to a long-running saga dogging the national board.
It is the second time in less than a year that Ashraf, whose removal last year due to doubts over his election led to a series of legal challenges, has been unseated as chairman of the PCB, which will be run for the time being by an 11-strong committee appointed by Sharif.
According to Sport24, a notice from the prime minister, who is also a patron of the PCB, confirmed Ashraf's removal, although the reasons for Ashraf's removal are still unknown.
However, sources said that Ashraf's failure to give Pakistan a strong voice at a crucial ICC meeting in Singapore, where a controversial revamp giving major powers and revenues to the 'big Three'-India, Australia, England- was approved, may be behind his removal.
The 11-man committee appointed Najam Sethi- the interim chairman before Ashraf was reinstated- as chairman of the new body and Sethi said that their first task would be to form a new constitution under which elections could be held for PCB chairman.
Sethi also said that they have to restore the prestige of Pakistan cricket, which is left isolated and made a minority through a failure at the ICC meeting.
The 11-man interim committee includes Sethi, former PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and former cricketers Iqbal Qasim and Zaheer Abbas among others, the report added.