The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has named former captain Shahid Afridi as interim chief selector of the men's team and ex-internationals Abdul Razzaq and Rao Iftikhar as members of the selection panel. Najam Sethi, new chairman of the PCB's management committee, dissolved the previous committee that was headed by Mohammad Wasim. Sethi fired Ramiz Raja as PCB chairman Thursday after the government appointed a management committee to form a new governing board within four months. Former Test player Haroon Rasheed, one of 14 members of the new interim management committee, was named as convenor of the selection committee. Wasim, a former Pakistan middle-order batter, was appointed in 2020 and was expected to stay until next year's 50-over World Cup in India. Sethi welcomed Afridi as head of the selection panel and hoped the committee "will make brave and bold decisions that will help us produce a strong and competitive side in the series against New Zealand." Read more: Ramiz sacked and Sethi reappointed chair of Pakistan cricket Pakistan already announced a 16-strong squad for the two-Test series against New Zealand that starts Monday and it was not clear whether the new selection committee will now make changes. Afridi scored 11,196 runs and took 541 wickets with his leg-spin bowling in his 27 Test matches, 398 ODIs and 99 T20s. He also captained the team in 83 international matches. He was a member of the team which won the 2009 T20 World Cup in England. "We need to get back to winning ways," Afridi said in a statement. "I have no doubts that through meritocratic and strategic selection decisions, we will help the national side perform strongly in the series against New Zealand and reclaim the confidence of our fans." New Zealand will play their first international matches in Pakistan since 2003 when they last toured the country for a limited-overs series. Pakistan suffered a 3-0 clean sweep against England last week, their first whitewash at home in a series featuring three or more Test matches. Read more: BPL: Shahid Afridi stars with bat, Comilla beat Sylhet by 4 wickets

Ramiz Raja has been removed as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board by the government and Najam Sethi reappointed. Sethi heads a new 14-member management committee including former Pakistan captains Shahid Afridi and Sana Mir. The government has given them 120 days to restore department teams in the domestic setup and form a new board of governors. The government also repealed the PCB constitution and restored it to the 2014 position, aiming to bring back department teams. The current constitution, formed in 2019, did not recognize department teams. Read more: Australia crushes South Africa inside 2 days in 1st test “The cricket regime headed by Ramiz Raja is no more,” Sethi tweeted late Wednesday. "The 2014 PCB constitution stands restored. The Management Committee will work tirelessly to revive first class cricket. Thousands of cricketers will be employed again. The famine in cricket will come to an end." The move followed the Pakistan test team's first 3-0 whitewash at home on Tuesday, inflicted by England. New Zealand arrived on Thursday for two tests and three one-day internationals, starting with the first test on Monday in Karachi. Sethi said the home squad for the New Zealand series was announced by the previous board and they won't change it. "I wish the team is not announced and we could have approached from a different angle, but now it's not the right time,” he said. Sethi served as chairman from 2013-18. During his tenure, international teams gradually returned to Pakistan after the Sri Lanka bus was attacked in 2009. Sethi also started the Pakistan Super League which attracted foreign cricketers. He was replaced by Ehsan Mani after cricket great Imran Khan became the country’s prime minister. Mani abolished department teams and squeezed domestic cricket into six provincial teams at the behest of Khan. Read more: Dhaka Test: Umesh, Ashwin run rampant, leave Bangladesh floundering However, prominent players and former board members urged the government to bring back department teams. Mani didn't accept an extension after his three-year tenure ended last year and Khan brought in Ramiz as the new chairman. Ramiz continued as the head despite Khan’s government ending this year and Shahbaz Sharif becoming prime minister. It is a normal practice in Pakistan that the prime minister, who is also the PCB patron, appoint the head of the board though direct nominations. “My primary duty is to restore the spirit of the 2014 constitution,” Sethi said at PCB headquarters in Lahore on Thursday. “The most important thing for us is to change the domestic cricket structure . . . bring back departments and all the regions as there’s been a famine for the last four years. “Tell me how many cricketers have come through domestic cricket? It looks like only PSL is supplying players. PSL is a very big international brand, and we will take the domestic cricket to that level, too, so that we can get good players from it.” During Ramiz’s tenure, Pakistan reached the T20 World Cup final this year and the semifinals last year, and qualified for the final of the T20 Asia Cup. However, Pakistan didn’t fare well in test matches at home. Flat, grassless pitches were the focal point and Pakistan lost an unprecedented four home tests in a row in series losses to Australia and England this year. The pitches prepared for both series were severely criticized and rated unworthy by the International Cricket Council.

Veteran Bangladeshi allrounders Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan and wicketkeeper-batsman Liton Das are set to feature in the resumption of this year's chequered Pakistan Super League (PSL), a T20 league organized by Pakistan Cricket Board (BCB), as the replacement players. These three Bangladeshi players are among the 19 overseas players who have been picked up by the PSL teams from the replacement draft. The other players are from Australia, West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Right-handed allrounder Mahmudullah will represent Multan Sultans in the remainder of the PSL. He had previously played for Quetta Gladiators in this event. Left-arm allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who is recently busy playing the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Kolkata Knight Riders, will play for Lahore Qalandars. Shakib had previously represented Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi in PSL. Liton, on the other hand, is all set to play for Karachi Kings. It’ll be his second appearance in a foreign league. He previously played for Jamaica Tallawahs in Caribbean Premier League. While Shakib is busy in IPL, Mahmudullah currently at home and Liton is touring Sri Lanka with the Bangladesh team to play a two-match Test series against the hosts. There are a total of 34 matches in PSL and 15 of them have already been played. The remainder of the league will resume from June 1 and will run to June 20. All the matches will take place at the National Stadium, Karachi.

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