LAHORE: A day after expressing his reservations over the hybrid model for the upcoming Asia Cup, Zaka Ashraf, who is highly likely to be elected as the next chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has said that he won’t contest the settlement.

The hybrid model — according to which the Asia Cup’s officials host Pakistan will stage four out of the 13 matches of the tournament before the remaining games are held in Sri Lanka — was approved earlier this month after the PCB had proposed it to accommodate India’s inability to travel across the border.

The idea of the model was brought up by the former chairman of the PCB’s interim Management Com­mittee, which was dissolved on Wednesday, with the elections of the board set to be held on June 27.

Zaka, who was nominated in the PCB’s Board of Governors (BoG) by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday, is all but set to win the polls and take office by the start of July as the body’s new chairman.

Speaking along with Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Ehsan­-ur-Rehman Mazari on Wednesday, Zaka had said the Sethi-led PCB should have demanded to host the Asia Cup in its entirety instead of settling with the hybrid model.

A day later, however, the 70-year-old clarified that his comments did not mean he would engage with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India once again when he assumes charge as the PCB chief.

“I will not block or have any intention not to comply with the decision,” Zaka told ESPNCricinfo on Thursday. “I cannot do much about it but to honour the commitment.

“But going forward, every decision we make will be made for and in the interest of the country.”

However, Zaka, also a former PCB chief, reiterated his “personal” stance over the issue.

“In my personal opinion, this whole hybrid model isn’t beneficial for Pakistan and I didn’t like it,” he said. “Being a host, Pakistan should have negotiated better to make sure that the entire tournament should have played in Pakistan.

“Sri Lanka taking the bigger lot of games, leaving Pakistan with only four games, isn’t in the best interest of our country.”

Zaka is the Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) favoured man for the PCB chairmanship role and was nominated by the PM to the body’s BoG following pressure from the political party.

To give way to Zaka’s nomination, Sethi, who had Shehbaz’s backing to take the board’s leadership, pulled out of the race to avoid becoming a “bone of contention between” the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the PPP.

With Sethi now out of the picture with the dissolution of the Management Committee, the PCB’s election commissioner and acting chairman

Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana constituted the BoG “in accordance with Para 10 of the PCB Constitution 2014”, a press release by the board said Thursday.

Other than Zaka, the PCB’s BoG includes Mustafa Ramday — the PM’s second nominee — and representatives from the National Bank of Pakistan, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines, Sui Souther Gas Company and the State Bank of Pakistan.

The presidents of the PCB’s Larkana, Dera Murad Jamali, Bahaw­alpur and Hyderabad region will complete the composition of the BoG.

“The election of the PCB Chairman will be held on Wednesday, 27 June, at the PCB headquarters in Lahore,” said the PCB statement. “Election schedule will be issued after receiving nominations from the departments/service organisations.

“The Election Commission office has written to the departments/service organisations to nominate their representatives.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2023