Sethi demands Mani, Wasim removal from PCB

LAHORE: Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi has demanded the removal of board’s chairman Ehsan Mani and Chief Executive Officer Wasim Khan.

In an informal interview with a group of journalists, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan should take some time and see what is happening with Pakistan cricket. “People will forget the political failure of the Prime Minister but will not forget the injustice done to cricket. The media will keep reminding him.

“Domestic cricket has been ruined due to the wrong decisions of the board management. It is not appropriate to shut down anything at once without a better alternative. They have shut down departmental and regional cricket and failed to provide an alternative. Cricket has been devastated at every level now,” he said.

“Now the future of Pakistan Super League is also in danger due to their stupidity,” he said.

“Didn’t they play in England and New Zealand, didn't they know what a biosecure bubble is, why were special forces not hired for vigilance? In our time for such works the best people came to supervise the matches,” he added.

He pointed out that there is not a single elected representative in the board. “Ehsan Mani has handed the responsibilities to favourites. This is the third year that domestic cricket has not been organised. Associations are under an ad hoc system. The board has gone to such a level that now lower level cricket is being conducted under the supervision of government officials,” he said.

“We made the first democratic constitution of the board, which was approved by the Supreme Court and the present administration threw out the constitution,” said the former chairman.

“This is the second year in a row that the PSL has not been able to meet the schedule. Dr Sohail Saleem has been made a scapegoat. His responsibility was to formulate protocols. To implement those protocols was the responsibility of senior board officials,” Sethi said.

“The people involved have not done what they should have done. They don't do what they should be doing, then they say the financial model is not right. We worked hard day and night to make Pakistan Super League a success, we did every little thing carefully,” he said.