Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has nominated legendary cricketer Zaheer Abbas for the post of International Cricket Council’s (ICC) president.
The cricket board is expected to send its nomination to the International Cricket Council (ICC) later today.
67-year-old Abbas, dubbed the ‘Asian Bradman’ at the peak of his career, is widely regarded as one of Pakistan’s best-ever batsmen. Zaheer has played 78 Test for Pakistan scoring 5062 runs. Zaheer held the post of adviser to the PCB chairman and is considered as a respectable individual in the world.
Former captains Majid Khan and Asif Iqbal were seen as other front runners for nomination to the ICC presidency.
The development comes a day after former Pakistan cricket chief Najam Sethi withdrew as sole nominee for ICC president, and called for a top former player to take his place.
Sethi quit as PCB chairman last year after a long series of court battles in a power struggle with his predecessor, but was nominated for the post of ICC president.
The ICC was due to consider Sethi’s nomination in their board meeting in Barbados later this month and he would have taken charge for one year from July 1.
But Sethi said on Monday the ICC’s recent announcement that the president’s post should only be open to leading former players from July 2016 prompted him to take the decision.
“I have withdrawn my candidature,” Sethi said. “Since the ICC announcement… I have increasingly felt that it is only fitting that this rule should be implemented straightaway so that one of Pakistan’s great iconic cricketers should be so honoured.”
