Najam Sethi has confirmed that he is no longer in the race to become the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) chairman.
Sethi, who is currently the chairman of the PCB Management Committee, shared the update in a tweet on Tuesday.
The 75-year-old said that he doesn't want to be a "bone of contention" between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
Earlier, Federal Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari had reiterated that Zaka Ashraf, who has the backing of the PPP leadership, will become the next chairman of the PCB.
Mazari, while speaking in a local television show, said Sethi's mandate, being the head of the Management Committee, was only to conduct free and fair elections in regions.
"Najam Sethi came to temporarily head the interim Management Committee and only had one mandate to conduct elections in the cricket regions," he said.
PPP's stance on the matter is that since its minister heads the Inter-Provincial Coordination Division and PCB is related to the ministry, its chairman should be appointed by the party.
In December last year, PM Shehbaz Sharif, who is also PCB's patron, appointed the 14-member committee to reinforce the 2014 constitution, bringing back departmental cricket.
Initially, 120 days were given to the committee to restore the 2014 constitution. However, a two-month extension was given to Sethi and company which ends on June 21.
"There will be no extension for the management committee now. Zaka Ashraf would be the next PCB chairman," Mazari added.
Ashraf previously served as PCB chairman during PPP's last government. Now once again, PPP's higher leadership, as per reports, wants their candidate to become the PCB chief.
Mazari had already said that PPP's leadership asked him to send Ashraf's name for PCB chairman to PM Shehbaz.
"The ministry has already moved his [Ashraf’s] summary to the PM office for approval," he told a local publication. "We have great regard for Sethi but we’re clear who our candidate is and I held a meeting with him today to discuss cricket issues in detail."