Mashhood asks Ramiz to step down as Chairman PCB

LAHORE: Former provincial sports minister and MPA Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan has asked Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja to gracefully step down from his position.

Talking to a group of journalists here, Mashhood, an important member of Punjab government, stated that the time their government was removed he (Raja)should have step aside from his position.

"I don’t see any future for Raja in Pakistan cricket and when the things in the government improve there will be new chairman of PCB."

“An immediate decision for the PCB chairman could not be taken due to other important and pressing issues. But a new PCB chairman will be appointed in the next few weeks,” Rana Mashhood made it clear.

He also made it clear the revival of departmental sports and also announced the initiation of sports endowment fund. “Department of Sports is being revived to provide employment to the players,” he maintained.

Last month Ramiz claimed that he was asked by the government to continue working as PCB chairman. “I am not going anywhere. The newly elected government has directed me to keep working,” Ramiz had told .

It must be noted that multiple sources in the recent past have claimed that Najam Sethi will soon replace Raja as the PCB Chief due to the former’s close ties with Sharif.

The former PCB Chairman Sethi stepped down in 2018 when Imran was sworn in as the prime minister. He was appointed on a three-year term in 2017, however his sour relationship with Khan resulted in his early exit.

Other than Sethi, the names of Shakil Sheikh, former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf and former Lahore region president Khawaja Nadeem are also doing the round to be the chairman of the PCB.