Pakistan cricket has been under shades of clouds regarding its future for quite some time and there were different schools of thoughts with respect to remedy for the revival of cricket in the country. One of them were of the view that there’s only one solution to the whole bunch of problems that management should be given the top-most priority and the PCB chairman should be a person who has great piece of professional experience as far as managing huge organisations is concerned. But on the other hand, the second group always advocated the concept of a former cricketer heading the cricket board. They were of the opinion that a former cricketer would know each and everything about the politics of the game and its issues at the grassroots level.
The latter idea got strength during the tenure of Dr Nasim Ashraf Ghani, whose mismanagement earned Pakistan’s cricket one controversy after another and national cricketers were never backed by their cricket board that brought them a bad name at international level. Whether, it was that controversial Oval Test or Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar’s case, Dr Nasim Ashraf’s poor management skills caused havoc to the national cricket and Pakistan almost lost its two key players. Furthermore, Inzamam and company had to join the Indian Cricket League just because of the negative response by the PCB’s management. All of these mishaps bolstered the demands of appointment of a cricketer as PCB Chairman.
Following all the speculations and demands by the cricket fans and the former cricketers, Patron In-Chief Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, on October 6, 2008 appointed former Test cricketer Ijaz Butt as chairman of the cricket board.
Let’s take a look at his credentials.
Ijaz Butt was a dependable batsman and more than capable wicketkeeper who made his Test debut against West Indies in 1958-59 as an opener scoring 41 not out in a ten-wicket win. The following winter he played twice against Australia, making his only half-century at Karachi. In England in 1962 he struggled for form in the three Tests he played, although overall he scored 1016 runs at 28.22 including a hundred before lunch against Kent.
He served as the secretary of the then Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan between 1984 and 1988. He was also the president of the Lahore City Cricket Association for many years. He toured Australia in 1982-83 as manager of the Pakistan team and twice headed the national selection committee.
In 2008, at the age of 70, he was appointed as chairman of the PCB following Dr Nasim Ashraf's resignation.
Mohammed Ijaz Butt was born on March 10, 1938 in the city of Sialkot in Punjab. In the domestic cricket Butt represented Lahore, Multan, Pakistan Universities, Punjab, and Rawalpindi. He was a right-hand batsman, who could keep wickets as well; an all rounder of some class.
Ijaz Butt played in 8 Tests from 1959 to 1962. He used to work with Service Industries Pakistan, a footwear company, as a senior manager prior to joining PCB.
Butt got the PCB job at a time when Pakistan cricket was going through a critical juncture. Foreign teams had refused to tour the country due to security concerns, especially after the Lahore Attack, while national team’s performance was also below par.
Former cricketers hailed Butt’s appointment, saying that a former player will be in a better position to lift Pakistan cricket out of the current crisis.
And wow, what a turnaround this man has effected in the Pakistan Cricket.
A team that couldn’t make it to the Super Eights stage of the previous couple of ODI world cups and a team that lost to minnows like Ireland; this guy’s superb managerial abilities have turned this team into the World Champions.
Apart from all the technicalities, I must say, the confidence provided by the PCB Chairman to the team and team management also acted as a catalyst and enabled Younus Khan to deliver when it mattered the most. This is Butt’s sheer confidence in Younus Khan’s abilities that has enabled the King Khan to go for the kill in the knock out stages of the World Twenty20 2009 and devastated some of the top cricket teams in the world.
Although, Ijaz Butt has not been that successful in bringing the teams back to play in Pakistan, but he must be given a benefit of the doubt, because the reason why international teams are reluctant to tour Pakistan are beyond his reach. Poor law and order situation in the country where Pakistanis are living in dire straits as every now and then a suicide bomb attack occurs anywhere in the country. In this scenario, it is one heck of a job to lure international teams to play cricket or any other game in Pakistan. Despite of all the negativities, Ijaz Butt has been doing whatever lies within his jurisdiction to force teams to play in Pakistan. Recently, he brought the International Cricket Council (ICC) to the court of law on depriving Pakistan of its rights to host World Cup 2011 matches. The move has earned him lot of respect among the countrymen as this is the first time that PCB has showed some aggression against the biasness of the apex cricket body. One can’t set aside Indian role in the controversy as it once again stabbed at Pakistan’s back and involved in a campaign against its neighbour that has supported it in every hard time.
Butt has a daunting task ahead. Rights of hosting World Cup 2011 matches have almost slipped out of Pakistan’s hands. Butt is trying his level best to bring ICC round to his point of view of hosting Pakistan’s matches in Gulf States, i.e. Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Till filing this article, no clear decision had come to the fore, but the way PCB is working on the idea, it seems that ICC will eventually have to give up to PCB’s resolve and Pakistan will get its share of World Cup matches.
Hats off to the man who has favours from the Lady Luck and the way he has raised the confidence level of the cricketers, it is hoped that Pakistan will regain its supremacy at the cricketing world and it would continue to stage world class cricketers. Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq have already joined the ranks while Imran Nazir is just waiting for his turn, and with Mohammad Asif due to join the camp in September this year, Pakistan would be a force to reckon with.
GREAT WORK MR CHAIRMAN; NATION IS PROUD OF YOU AND YOUR MEN!
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