Testing times ahead for 'under fire' PCB boss Butt

Lahore, Mar.6 : The next few days would test the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt's tactfulness and skills regarding handling issues in the board, as he has to make
several important decisions in days to come.

He is also likely to face action for some of his recent 'unilateral' decisions.

Butt has to appoint a captain or captains for the Pakistan Test, ODI and Twenty20 teams for forthcoming assignments besides implementing recommendations of the inquiry committee, which was set up to probe Pakistan's humiliating tour Down Under.

The committee had recommended hefty penalty for all-rounder Shahid Afridi and wicket keeper Kamran Akmal for violating the players' code of conduct during the series.

Moreover, Butt's thorny relations with the Sports Ministry and the National Assembly's (NA) Standing Committee on Sports is likely to enhance his troubles in coming days.

Insiders said that Butt's contradictory statements regarding some of the players being involved in match-fixing at a press conference recently would only add to his problems when he appears before the NA committee on Saturday (today) to explain his remarks against captain Mohammed Yousuf and Shoaib Malik.

Butt had first said that two players were under investigation for match-fixing and then retracted, saying he was speaking about old cases and none of the current players in the Pakistani team are suspects in fixing matches.

His recent decisions of using his discriminatory powers to appoint Waqar Younis and Ijaz Ahmed as coach and assistant coach respectively, and Mohsin Khan as the new chief selector have also not gone down well with the government, The Nation reports.

"The PCB chairman should have consulted the governing council members specially the new ones inducted into the council while taking such key decisions. He has again shown a tendency to take unilateral decisions, which affect Pakistan cricket directly," Sports Minister Ijaz Jakhrani had said earlier.