LAHORE, Oct 6: Another day, another resignation! On Thursday, it was the ever-reliable Younis Khan who, in a rare fit of anger, quit as captain to rock the Pakistan cricket boat. On Friday, it was Shaharyar Khan’s turn to go one up on his employee, to show the world that he, as big boss and chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board, can cause more havoc than any player if that is the order of the day.

The spectre of infighting had raised its ugly head once again. In fact, this time it had gone heads and shoulders above all such nasty precedents in the country’s 55-year history of the game. The self-destruction cycle of Pakistan cricket had come a full circle.

Shaharyar said the Younis Khan episode, which followed the Oval Test controversy in England in August, had contributed to his decision.

“These two incidents were very upsetting for me and spoiled an otherwise productive period for me. My tenure was until December 2006 so I decided to go now,” Shaharyar told Reuters.

“Since the World Cup is just five months away, I wanted to give time to the new chairman to adjust before the tournament.”

Dr Naseem Ashraf, a member of the board’s ad-hoc committee and an adviser to President Pervez Musharraf was named as the new chairman of PCB with immediate effect.

Talking to Dawn from Peshawar where he was attending to his ailing father, Dr Ashraf emphasised that unifying the team, strengthening the corporate governance in the board and eliminating politics from cricket would be his main priorities. He said he would be in Lahore on Saturday to assume charge after a short press conference.

Sources told Dawn that Shaharyar was asked by the Patron of the PCB, President Musharraf, to resign as his replacement candidate had already been finalised. Informed sources said the president had taken the decision of replacing the PCB chief four days ago but conveyed it to Shaharyar on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the seasoned diplomat remained busy at the National Cricket Academy, interviewing all members of the India-bound Pakistan team and holding one-to-one meetings with them. Ironically, that proved to be his last assignment as board chairman.

Sources disclosed that President Musharraf was unhappy at the manner in which the PCB had handled The Oval controversy, and the Younis episode on Thursday came as the last nail in the coffin.

The sources further said that the ICC had objected to the appointment of assistant coach Mushtaq Ahmed since he had been fined by the judicial commission of Abdul Qayyum, who had probed match-fixing charges. But Shaharyar ignored the advice and bowed down to captain Inzamam’s demand to appoint Mushtaq.

Shaharyar, 72, took over as PCB ad hoc committee Chairman in December 2003 after Lt. Gen. (retd) Tauqeer Zia stepped down upon completing four years in the post

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, who also met Shaharyar at his residence late on Friday night, said the PCB chief’s decision was a tragedy for Pakistan cricket but added that preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy and the World Cup-2007 would continue as usual.

Shaharyar brought Woolmer as coach of Pakistan team till World Cup 2007 after axing Javed Miandad in 2004.

It may be mentioned here that Shaharyar was present at The Oval when captain Inzamam decided to boycott further proceedings of the fourth Test against England on Aug 20 as a protest against the ground umpires’ decision of imposing a five-run penalty on Pakistan on the charge of tampering with the ball.

The PCB chief and his aides, however, failed to tackle the situation in a professional manner as the umpires forfeited the match in England’s favour.

That was followed by an ICC disciplinary hearing on Sept 27-78 which, while exonerating Inzamam of ball-tampering charges, imposed a four-ODI penalty on him for bringing the game into disrepute.

The ECB had also demanded 0.8 million pounds from the PCB as compensation for losses it suffered at The Oval.

Interestingly, the new PCB chief Dr Ashraf was also present at The Oval, vociferously negotiating with the players to end the post-tea boycott.

Reuters adds: A PCB official told Reuters that Shaharyar’s resignation, submitted two days ago, was accepted by the chief patron of the board, President General Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistan cricket has been run on an ad-hoc basis since 1999 and is directly answerable to the president, who appoints the board chairman and other leading officials.