Cricket: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's election might be delaying Black Caps schedule

Imran Khan has appointed a new Pakistan Cricket Board chairman in his early days as Prime Minister. Photo: AP

It's no time to panic in the chase, but New Zealand Cricket have still not received any scheduling dates for their series against Pakistan from late October to the end of November.

The tour will be hosted in the United Arab Emirates and include three matches in each format. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah are the expected venues, as they were on the 2014 tour.

To bring context to New Zealand's state of uncertainty, Cricket Australia have also not received details for their two-test, three-T20 tour earlier in October.

In fairness to the Pakistan Cricket Board, it is a frenetic time after the appointment of World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan as Prime Minister this month.

His rise to power has already had a significant impact on the cricket community.

Najam Sethi resigned as PCB chairman on Monday, prompting the new PM to mark out his long run on Twitter by writing that he had appointed Ehsan Mani to the role.

"He brings vast and valuable experience to the job. He represented PCB in the ICC; was Treasurer ICC for 3 yrs and then headed the ICC for another 3 yrs."

Imran acknowledged that first delivery might have been a touch short and wide, which sparked a clarification: "We will follow the set procedure which entails my nominating him [Mani] on the PCB Board of Governors. He may then contest elections for the position of Chairman PCB."

Sethi and Imran endured a difficult relationship and, as Cricinfo's Pakistan correspondent Danyal Rasool noted, "with the prime minister allowed - according to the PCB constitution - to change the PCB chairman if he so desired, it seemed unlikely Sethi would be able to stay on beyond Imran formally taking charge."

Sethi responded by tweeting he had been "waiting for the new Prime Minister to take oath" before exiting.

His resignation letter, addressed to Imran, stated: "You have said on many occasions you have a vision for Pakistan cricket. Therefore, it is only proper that you should assume charge and responsibility for assembling a management team for PCB that enjoys your full confidence and trust."

Sethi was appointed the PCB chairman unanimously in August 2017 for a three-year term, and believed he had "served the cause of cricket diligently".

The distraction appears to have compounded the delays to sorting any tour schedules.

Earlier, NZC had declined a PCB offer to visit Pakistan for the T20 leg.

New Zealand's last visit was in 2003 when they were beaten 5-0 in an ODI series. A bomb blast near their hotel cut short their test visit a year earlier.

Pakistan has hosted minimal international cricket since terrorists shot at the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009.