Naqvi elected new Pakistan cricket chief

LAHORE: Mohsin Naqvi was elected Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Tuesday, a volatile position frequently the target of political interference.

Naqvi, who is also the caretaker chief minister of Punjab as the cricket-mad country heads into an election on Thursday, will serve a three-year term. “I am deeply honoured and humbled to have been unanimously elected,” Naqvi said in a statement from the PCB.

“I am fully committed to upgrading the standard of the game in the country and bringing professionalism in the administration of cricket in Pakistan.”

Naqvi, 45, is the first chairman to be elected since Ramiz Raja was sacked in December 2022, with Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf appointed head of interim boards in the intervening months. Pakistan cricket has a history of political meddling, with the incumbent prime minister usually the patron of the board and allowed to nominate two officials to the 10-member body that elects the chairman.

Naqvi’s first task will be to improve the domestic cricket structure and the performance of the national side, which most recently lost a Test series 3-0 in Australia and a T20I series in New Zealand. He also faces the challenge to host the eight-nation Champions Trophy in February 2025, with arch-rivals India unwilling to tour Pakistan over long-running political tensions.