Ramiz Raja removed as PCB chairman; Najam Sethi takes charge

After being 15 months in charge, former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja has been removed as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) following the team’s 0-3 whitewash at the hands of England — the first home whitewash in the country’s history — which effectively put an end to Pakistan’s hopes of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Ramiz has been succeeded by former board head and prominent media analyst Najam Sethi, who, as of December 22, has already taken charge.

“The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja @iramizraja is no more. The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored. The Management Committee will work tirelessly to revive first class cricket. Thousands of cricketers will be employed again. The famine in cricket will come to an end,” Sethi tweeted in the early hours of Thursday, December 22. 

In a follow-up tweet that was posted around 10.00 AM, Sethi said that ‘there is a lot of work to be done and some undone’.

A 14-member management committee headed by Sethi has taken over the interim charge of affairs. The committee includes former Pakistan captains Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir.

In September 2021, Ramiz Raja was elected unopposed as PCB’s chairman, but his tenure, overall, turned out to be a rather disappointing one. While Pakistan made good strides in the shortest format, making it to the semis of one T20WC and final of the other, they sunk to historical lows in Test cricket. 

In 2022, they played as many as six home Tests without winning a single one. They lost 1-0 to Australia before ultimately getting whitewashed by England. 

Under Ramiz, the wickets prepared by the curators came under question and the 3-0 whitewash of England proved to be the final straw.