Ramiz Raja likely to become next PCB chairman as Ehsan Mani refuses extension

By Chris On Aug 28, 2021

News

Former Pakistan batter has been nominated for three years, and Asad Ali Khan has been nominated for a second term

Ramiz Raja has been informed by the Pakistan prime minister’s office that he is being nominated to the PCB’s board of governors, a move that is eventually likely to see him becoming the next chairman of the organisation. ESPNcricinfo understands that Ehsan Mani, the incumbent, has refused to accept the offer for a short-term extension at the end of his term, which ended on Wednesday, and as such has brought his three-year tenure to a close.

On Friday, a government notification was sent out confirming Raja’s nomination for a three-year term. Asad Ali Khan, who had already served a three-year tenure on the board, has also been nominated, for a second term.*

Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan – and the PCB’s patron-in-chief – met his former team-mate Raja, now a prominent broadcaster, on Monday, having identified him as the probable candidate to take over from Mani. But there was the possibility of Mani being given an extension, possibly for a year instead of the usual three years. The eventual appointment, however, is formally made by the PCB Board.

Former Pakistan captain Khan had initially reached out to Raja, also a former PCB chief executive, for names of potential candidates, in line with his apparent preference for an ex-player to be at the helm. But, in the absence of other obvious candidate, he is believed to have told Raja to consider himself for the post.

As for Raja, his main target, as he shared with ESPNcricinfo, is to improve Pakistan’s position on the ICC ranking tables across formats, which he referred to as “Pakistan cricket’s GPS”. “I did meet with the PM and presented him with a roadmap for how Pakistan cricket can go forward,” Raja said. “It was a cricket-centric discussion on the problems Pakistan cricket is facing and what possible steps can be taken to improve the overall performance. I am glad he called me up and heard me out. He is concerned about the state of cricket overall and is open to discussion.

“Pakistan has been extremely inconsistent and, let’s be fair, that the ranking in each format reflects that Pakistan cannot make it into the final of tournaments. The only chance they have is to play the semi-final in T20 format while considering the ODI and Test format it’s hard for them to go past the pool stage. So I have updated him on things on the cricketing front. We had a productive meeting and it is now his call on how to proceed.”

As for Mani, it was always understood that he wasn’t keen to continue, even for a shorter term, but was not against the idea of staying on in order to complete plans and projects that had started under his stewardship. Lead among those would be to take the long-standing negotiations with PSL franchises on a new financial model for the league to a conclusion.

The PSL’s commercial and broadcast rights cycle is also due for renewal and will need careful steering through, with the added complication of an arbitration process with the previous rights holders Blitz that the board is involved in. A number of PSL franchises, however, feel that continuity is essential for the advance of the league and they worry a change at the top will disrupt the proceedings.

Updated at 9.34am GMT on Friday, August 27, 2021

Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent

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