By K. Hussain, IANS,
Karachi : Just hours after Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf also decided to quit Monday.
Sources in the PCB told IANS that Ashraf decided to resign as PCB chief following a meeting of senior Board officials Monday. Ashraf, who was handpicked by Musharraf to become the PCB chairman in September 2006, had just returned home from a personal trip of the United States.
Musharraf – facing a possible impeachment from the parliament — announced his resignation in a televised address to the nation Monday afternoon.
Ashraf was one of Musharraf’s close aides and it was widely speculated in the national cricket circles that if the president quits then the PCB chief will follow suit.
Ashraf, who was a US-based doctor before his appointment as the PCB chairman, took over the reins of Pakistan cricket at a turbulent period, just days after Pakistan became the first test-playing nation to forfeit a Test, against England at The Oval.
Later, Pakistan cricket went through a lot of turmoil in 2007 when the country suffered an embarrassing first round defeat in the World Cup in the West Indies and more importantly lost their coach Bob Woolmer in suspicious circumstances. Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room in Jamaica just hours after his team lost to minnows Ireland in a crucial World Cup match.
The high point of Ashraf’s stint was Pakistan’s good showing in the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa where they played in the final against old rivals India.