Zaka Ashraf Steps Down as Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman

On Friday, Zaka Ashraf announced his decision to step down from his role as a chairman. He was the chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC), the body heading the Pakistan Cricket Board. He declared his resignation after chairing a managing committee meeting in Lahore on Friday. 

The government’s inter-provincial coordination committee had asked Ashraf to cancel a PCB management committee meeting in Karachi this week and stopped him from taking any major finance-related decisions. 

However, Ashraf held an urgent meeting of the 10-member management committee in Lahore on Friday and announced that he had decided to tender his resignation as Chairman and member of the Management Committee.

The Pakistan Cricket Board in a statement said - “He (Ashraf) thanked members of the Management Committee, the PCB management and staff for their support during this tenure”.

“Members of the MC and the PCB management expressed their gratitude to the chairman for his leadership.”

Zaka Ashraf took the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief role from Najam Sethi in July last year. His resignation came a couple of weeks before his most recent extension as head of the PCB was due to end in February first week. The Pakistan Cricket Board has not yet announced who will take over the administration of the board. 

In November last year, Ashraf was given a three-month extension to continue as the head of the PCB through a government notification given by the patron of the board and current interim Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwar ul Haq Kakar. 

The Pakistan men’s team experienced below-par performances during Ashraf’s tenure. The team got out in the group stage of the ODI cricket World Cup 2023 in India and didn’t surpass the Super four in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.