Ramiz Raja sacked as PCB chief after Pakistan's home Tests vs England, replacement named: Reports

In the aftermath of Pakistan's home Test series loss versus England, Ramiz Raja has been sacked as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief. There were reports of the former Pakistan captain set to be removed from the top post. On Wednesday (December 21), it is believed that Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharifgave his nod to the appointment of Najam Sethi as the new PCB chairman. It is to be noted that Ramiz had secured the post in September 2021.

Raja, who was nominated directly for the post on August 27, 2021 by the then Pakistan's PM Imran Khan, is only the fourth Test cricketer to don the chairman's hat after Ijaz Butt, Javed Burki and Abdul Hafeez Kardar. It was Raja's second stint as the PCB chief, having held the post earlierfrom 2003 to 2004. Talking about Ramiz's second tenure, it was full of ups and downs. During his tenure, Pakistan achieved a glorious high of finally managing to beat arch-rivals India in the 2021 T20 World Cup, in the UAE. Further, the senior men's team entered the semi-finals of the last year's T20 WC, ended as runners-up in the Asia Cup 2022 and recently-held T20 WC in Australia. However, the team saw a huge dip by losing the home Tests and only T20I versus Australia, early this year, before being whitewashed for the first time in whites on their home soil in the just-concluded England Tests. In addition, they lost the seven-match T20I series versus the Three Lions ahead of this yea'sT20 WC.

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Najam Sethi, on the other hand, has already served as the PCB chief before. He gave his resignation in mid-2018 and was succeeded by Ehsan Mani, who was later replaced by Ramiz Raja after he quit in August 2021. Najam, hence, has a tough ask in hand to resurrect Team Pakistan -- at all levels -- and promote domestic cricket in the country, with many questioning the current crop of batters. Several questions have also been raised on Babar following Pakistan's dismal home run recently. It will be interesting to see if more changes are in store.