Former Pakistan captain and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez is the leading candidate to become the national team’s chief selector after the ongoing Sri Lanka tour. According to reports, Hafeez is the preferred choice of the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Cricket Management Committee (CMC), Zaka Ashraf, to fill the vacant chief selector position, which became available after the dissolution of the previous CMC in June.

“Zaka met with former captain Rashid Latif and Hafeez and spoke to them about becoming chief selector. Rashid was not keen on the job, but Hafeez expressed his availability for the role,” a source revealed.

Hafeez, who played 55 Tests, 218 ODIs, and 119 T20Is for Pakistan before retiring last year, is eager to take up the challenge of working as the chief selector.

The current selection committee, chaired by Haroon Rasheed, was formed by Najam Sethi but was dissolved along with the previous CMC. Ashraf is now considering whether to change the entire selection committee or simply appoint a new chief selector to replace Rasheed.

“It is unlikely the entire selection committee will be changed because of the heavy schedule of the Pakistan team after the Sri Lanka tour, as Afghanistan has also confirmed an ODI series in Sri Lanka in August before the Asia Cup,” the source stated.

In addition to the potential change in the selection committee, Ashraf is contemplating appointing a new team manager and media manager for the upcoming Asia Cup and the World Cup in India.

The new CMC, with a four-month mandate, has been given the responsibility of conducting fresh elections for all affiliated regional associations, reviving departmental teams, and forming a new board of governors who will then elect a new chairman. The committee has already initiated changes in the board’s corporate structure.