LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board stated in the early hours of Thursday morning that it had accepted the resignation of chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, nearly ten days after the former Pakistan captain had announced he was quitting.

Inzamam had tendered his resignation after the PCB began investigating a potential conflict of interest in his role as the chief selector.

The 53-year-old, a part of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup-winning team, was found to be a director of Yazoo International Ltd with another director at the UK-based company managing affairs of a company that represented nearly 70 per cent of the players in the Pakistan team.

Inzamam had said he would return to the post once he was cleared in the investigation, with the fallout taking place when the Pakistan team was competing at the World Cup.

The PCB announced that former Test cricketer Tauseef Ahmed will be temporary chief selector for the tour of Australia after the fact-finding committee formed by the PCB said it will submit its report after its originally proposed date of Nov 6.

The acceptance of Inzamam’s resignation came only after an explosive interview by the former batter on a private television channel. Earlier the PCB’s head of media had also appeared on the same television network where she stated that it was Inzamam’s responsibility to inform about any potential conflict of interest.

The PCB said it will announce a replacement for Inzamam “in due course” while adding he had “voluntarily stepped down from his position … in order to offer the PCB the opportunity to conduct a transparent inquiry about the conflict of interest allegations”.

Sources told Dawn that with Inzamam offering the resignation himself means the PCB will not have pay him for the remainder of a three-year contract which he’d agreed.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2023