Shahid Afridi's PCB Woes

Mr. Ijaz Butt, the defiant Pakistan Cricket Board chairman very recently said he is not at all affected by Shahid Afridi’s decision to quit the game till the time he was in charge of the PCB and insisted that the temperamental player should explain his sudden shock retirement.

When asked to comment about Afridi’s remarks that he would not play under the present cricket set-up, he is quoted saying to the media “(Do it immediately) Sau Bismillah to him if he does not want to play under my Chairmanship.” “He has violated the contract codes and like any other player he now has to explain his actions to the board.” Butt said.

The Pakistan Cricket board yesterday started disciplinary action against Afridi for his sudden decision to retire from international cricket and for making disparaging comments about the board and its officials.

As part of the disciplinary measures, the board has revoked his NOC’s, cancelled his central contract and issued him a show cause notice to which he has to respond within seven days. They have also suspended all payments to him as part of his central contract.

This fresh feud between the board and Shahid Afridi has already started becoming a political issue. But in spite of the accusations from the PCB, the Pakistan sports minister Engineer Shaukatullah supported the player.

“I am with Afridi and will support him in this issue. Ijaz Butt has been running the board like his own kingdom and it is time he was held accountable for his actions and sacked,” the minister said.

He also promised to speak to the Prime Minister to apprise him of the shambles in which Pakistan cricket was and to take necessary steps to restore Afridi as captain and change the board set-up properly.

The heads of the National Assembly and Senate standing committees on sports, Iqbal Mohammad Ali and Ghaffar Qureshi have also come out in favour of the all-rounder; blaming Butt for the fresh crisis in Pakistan cricket.

Iqbal Mohammad Ali is quoted saying “These players are our assets and they are not being treated justly by Butt and the board and there is a limit to this problem of senior players being disrespected by the board. We are going to ask the government to take immediate notice and change the board set up.”

While Qureshi insisted that Afridi had always remained a valuable player and had committed no crime to be treated this way.

Tags: Cricket, Ijaz Butt, International Cricket, Pakistan Cricket Board, PCB, Shahid Afridi