Appointment of new PCB chief: Ramiz Raja, Ehsan Mani meet PM Imran Khan

Both Ehsan Mani and Ramiz Raja met the prime minister at PM house.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Former Pakistan skipper and renowned commentator Ramiz Raja and PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani called on Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan at PM House today in connection with appointment of the next chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as Mani’s term is due to end this month.

Ehsan Mani briefed PM Khan on the matters of the cricket board and the structure of the domestic cricket. 

It is pertinent to mention here that Ehsan Mani s current term as PCB chief is due to end on August 25, though he has recently said he intends to continue in the post.

As per rules, PM Imran Khan, who is also the Patron-in-chief of the board will send two names for the post of the PCB chairman to the governing board.

The ten-member governing board includes four independent members, three provisional cricket association heads, and the chief executive officer.

Though the two nominees are yet to be named, the patron s office has already named a former supreme court judge, Justice (retired) Sheikh Azmat, as the commissioner to carry out the election of the PCB chairperson.

Mani was previously the only candidate to have submitted his nomination papers for the post, and all members of the Board of Governors unanimously voted for him to head the PCB. He had replaced Najam Sethi, who had resigned when Imran s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), came to power in the federal government.

In case PM Khan extends Mani s tenure, he will have to go through another process for his re-election as, according to the PCB constitution, a chairperson s total tenure "shall in no case exceed a period of six years". Mani has only completed three years so far.

During his term, Mani revamped the functioning of the PCB, redrafting the board s constitution to bring it in line with the practices of corporate governance.

Until 2019, the PCB chairperson could also act as CEO, which gave them the power to implement whichever of the board s policies they thought were fit. This has since been curbed by introducing the position of a chief executive officer.

The PCB under Mani also brought in enormous changes in the domestic structure, dismantling the previous mix of departmental and regional cricket and implementing the provincial-team model at Imran s insistence.

The change sparked country-wide outrage with the new system costing several players their livelihoods, but the PCB eventually created jobs for all veteran cricketers at the association level, offering them opportunities on various scales ranging from administrative jobs to field jobs.

Mani has also put in place a thorough review of Pakistan cricket s biggest revenue-generating product, the Pakistan Super League, and faces a time crunch to revise the financial model of the league.

The PSL is set to reassess the value of its assets this year before selling its commercial and broadcasting rights. The last three-year cycle for the TV and digital streaming rights, worth approximately USD 36 million, has come to an end this year.