Iqbal resigned on Sunday after Australia completed a 5-0 whitewash of Pakistan in the one-day series. Earlier, Pakistan had also lost the three-Test rubber 3-0 to the Australians.

PCB chief Ijaz Butt told reporters in Lahore that he had not accepted Iqbal's resignation and had requested him to stay on until the World Twenty20, which begins in the West Indies in April.

“I am thankful to the PCB chief, but it is not possible for me to continue as chief selector,” Iqbal said.

Pakistan suffered an additional blow in the final one-dayer when stand-in captain Shahid Afridi was banned for two Twenty20 matches for ball tampering.

Iqbal said he felt the Pakistan team had been on a downward spiral since losing a one-day series to New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates late last year.

“The performance of the team has gone down and I should take responsibility,” he stated. “I have made up my mind and now the decision is final.”

Iqbal was made chief of a five-member selection committee when he came in as a replacement for former Test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir in July last year.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan parliament's standing committee on sports welcomed Iqbal's decision to resign.

“Iqbal has started a good tradition by stepping down,” committee chairman Jamshed Dasti told reporters.

Dasti has already recommended to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the patron of the PCB, that he remove the board's hierarchy.

Dasti has summoned the country's leading board members to a meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday.

“I hope the rest of the PCB leadership, including [Ijaz] Butt and coach Intikhab Alam, also quit,” he said.

The PCB also formed a six-member inquiry committee to evaluate the team's poor performance in Australia.—AP