Pak cricket “will get buried” if Ijaz Butt gets term extension: Ex-PCB chief

Karachi: Calls to deny a term extension to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt, who tenure ends on October 8, have gained momentum in the country.

Butt is reportedly seeking an extension and is looking to take into confidence President Asif Ali Zardari, also the patron-in-chief of the board. However, former players and PCB officials have called for a new man to run the board and a shake-up in order to bring the board back on track. “He [Butt] should go now,” a Pak newspaper quoted former PCB chief Khalid Mehmood, as saying. “We faced a lot of issues during his tenure, but the biggest to me is that the PCB has lost its status. The PCB was once the main cricket body in the world but now has no weight,” he added. Mehmood also dismissed the PCB claims of curbing player power, and said that ‘Butt has finished the players’. However, he credited Butt for giving youngsters a chance in the national team. Another former PCB chief, Arif Abbasi, said that Butt should have resigned after the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore. “His tenure has brought unprecedented shame and if he gets an extension, our cricket will get buried,” he added. Meanwhile, former International Cricket Council President Ehsan Mani felt that Pakistan cricket desperately needed a change to regain its lost status. “We faced a lot of issues during his [Butt’s] tenure, but the biggest to me is that the PCB has lost its status. The PCB was once the main cricket body in the world but now has no weight.” There should be a strong set-up with associations having a dual role, said Mani, adding that the problem lies in the PCB’s system of one-man rule. “The real problem lies in our system and the one-man rule should be finished. The facts speak for themselves. We can count a lot of controversies during his tenure. There should be a strong set-up,” he said. Bureau Report