Pakistan chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq has resigned with immediate effect after meeting PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf in Lahore today after uncomfortable questions about a potential conflict of interest arose.
There have been reports in the Pakistani media that Inzamam is one of four active directors at Yazoo International Ltd., a UK-based company. Talha Rehmani, managing director of Saya Corporation, represents many of the Pakistan Cricket Team’s most prominent players, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan.
Rizwan is also a director at Yazoo, according to gov.uk, a website that provides information about the public sector of the UK government. The company secretary is Intisar-ul-Haq, Inzamam’s brother.
The three directors and the company secretary were appointed on December 7, 2020. Inzamam’s involvement—or that of his brother, Rizwan, or Rehmani—with Yazoo was not revealed when Inzamam was announced as Pakistan’s Chief Selector earlier this year.
A director’s stake in a company with Pakistan Cricket’s most prominent player agent as a director raised uncomfortable questions about whether the cricket team’s national selector should have a direct stake in the company.
The fact that Muhammad Rizwan is also a director raises even more concerns, as a chief selector owns stock in the same company as the player he chooses and the agent who represents him.
According to a statement released by the Pakistan Cricket Board, Inzamam will step down from the role of chief selector to allow the PCB to conduct a transparent inquiry.
“I will resume my role as chief selector if the committee finds me not guilty.”
The chief selector was appointed in August, and this month he was given responsibility for selecting national junior teams.
He was previously chief selector from 2016–19.
