Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif removes Mohammad Zaka Ashraf from Pakistan Cricket Board chairman post

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.