Mohammad Ilyas files petition against dismissal

Former Pakistan chief selector Mohammad Ilyas has filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court against his contract termination by PCB. The Pakistan board, with its new management committee led by Najam Sethi, had suspended Ilyas' one-year contract as chief selector less than a month into his term. The court sought a reply from the PCB chairman Sethi in two weeks.

The board had also asked Ilyas to pay back the retainer he had received for the time he served. "Mr Ilyas was terminated without any prior one-month notice," Ilyas' lawyer Irfan Khan Gaznavi told ESPNcricinfo. "PCB removed my client saying that his appointment is against the service rule of PCB, which is false as there is no such service rule applied for a contracted employee."

Ilyas was contracted by former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf as the chief selector for both the senior and junior sides on January 18, but with the appointment of Aamir Sohail, he was demoted to chief selector of junior teams as well as the women's national team. During his short term as chief selector, though, Ilyas had named Pakistan's 30-man preliminary squad for the 2014 World T20 and the 15-man for the Under19 World Cup

However, after a slew of changes in the PCB following Ashraf's removal as chairman, the new administration overturned most of the decisions taken by Ashraf, and called the appointment of Ilyas illegal and not in accordance of the board's service rules. His appointment was declared void.