PCB appoints Muhammad Wasim as chief selector, Saleem Yousuf to head cricket committee.

LAHORE -- The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday appointed former batsman and Head Coach of Northern Cricket Association Mohammad Wasim as the chairman of the national selection committee and Saleem Yousuf as the chair of the PCB Cricket Committee.

Wasim will be taking over from Misbah-ul-Haq who was given the additional charge of the selection committee along with his head coach role.

'Muhammad Wasim has been appointed as the Chairman of the Pakistan men's national selection committee, while Saleem Yousuf has been confirmed as the Chair of the PCB Cricket Committee. To ensure consistency and continuity, both have been appointed till the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023,' read the PCB statement.

The PCB said that both the appointments were confirmed after Chairman Ehsan Mani completed the final round of online interviews on Thursday and Friday.

PCB CEO Wasim Khan said that Muhammad Wasim and Saleem Yousuf have 'sound knowledge of cricket, understand the rigours and demands of the modern game and are highly respected across the cricket fraternity'.

'Both the gentlemen are also aligned to the PCB's five-year strategic pillar of strengthening our merit and opportunity-based domestic structure, as well as improving our international rankings across all formats,' said the PCB CEO.

Khan said that they had appointed Muhammad as a part the PCB's strategy to 'groom, develop and provide leadership opportunities to talented cricketers'.

'He is young, progressive and bold thinker who is in sync with our new High Performance Player Framework, and is one of very few people who are completely aware of the pool of talented cricketers available at the domestic level,' he said.

The PCB said that Wasim's first assignment will be to select the Pakistan side for the two Tests and three T20Is series against South Africa scheduled for mid-January.

The 43-year-old was already a member of the Misbah-ul-Haq's selection panel till November 30 by being the head coach of the Northern Cricket Association.

His domestic side is currently second on the points table of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy behind first placed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Last season, his side won the National T20 Cup and finished runners-up in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

The PCB said that the former batsman will take charge after the end of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy's final which will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi from January 1, 2021.

'There is no change to the composition of the selection...