Not plotting move to oust Ashraf, says Sohail

Karachi: Pakistan`s former captain, Aamir Sohail has reacted strongly to reports that he was engineering a move to oust Zaka Ashraf as chairman of the PCB after the Pakistan Muslim League`s victory in the general elections.

Ashraf interestingly became the first elected chairman of the board just few days before the elections were held on May 11 with many former heads of the board and players criticising the haste and secrecy in which the entire election/selection process was held in Islamabad. Media reports recently suggested that since Sohail is in the PML (N) and is seen as being close to Hamza Shahbaz Sharif the son of Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif. But Sohail said all such reports were not correct. "It is wrong to say I am involved in any such thing... It is rubbish," he said. A former head of the board who declined to be named, said that even though Ashraf had got himself elected as board chairman, he could still be ousted through a legal process. "He can be removed through a legal process even before his four year tenure is completed," he noted. Already the word is that as soon as Nawaz Sharif forms his government and takes oath as Prime Minister, he is bound to look into the cricket affairs as he has always been a big fan of the sport. "Obviously when the new government comes in and even though the ICC keeps on insisting that its members must have a new constitution barring government interference or influence in its running, it will want to know what is happening in the board and how many appointments were made in Ashraf`s tenure as he was a political appointment," a source close to the PML N said. Ashraf has been accused by his detractors in the past of making political appointments in the board. PTI