Ijaz “The PCB” Butt
There was a time the Pakistan cricket team was feared the world over for being the most unpredictable team on the planet. Booming with talent the likes of which the world of cricket had never seen before, the Pakistani team annihilated their opponents on
many occasions. Players of the caliber of Zaheer Abbas, Majid Khan, Asif Iqbal, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar and many more legends of cricket were produced by Pakistan.
The art of the “reverse swing” was also introduced to cricket by Pakistani bowlers. Imran Khan the legendary Pakistani captain who led Pakistan to their first and only world cup victory was the first bowler in cricket to reverse swing the ball. The idea
was to shine one side of the ball while ignoring the other so as to create a shinier side and a rough side. When the ball was bowled, air flowed smoothly over the shinier side while it “broke” as it passed over the rough side, creating an imbalance and making
the ball swing viciously in the air. Once the ball started reverse swinging when delivered from the Pakistani bowlers, they became a nightmare for even the best of batsmen.
Who could forget the Sheikhupura Express, Waqar Younis. Pakistan was playing a test match against the mighty West Indian side. Brian Lara (considered by most experts as the best batsman on the planet and in his era) was on the crease and Waqar Younis was
bowling. Lara took his guard. Marked a line across the ground aligned with the middle stump and stood infront of the stumps. The stumps were barely visible. Waqar took his run up and bowled an absolute stunner of a delivery. An inswinging Yorker aimed straight
at Lara’s toes. A 95 miles per hour missile. Lara fell over and the stumps were completely shattered.
When it comes to cricketing talent, Pakistan has been blessed with the most amazing cricketers ever. Before being embroiled in the recent match fixing turmoil that has rocked Pakistan cricket, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were being regarded as the most
lethal combination of bowlers in cricket today. Amir, at 18 is the youngest bowler in test cricket’s history to have taken 50 wickets. Asif on the other hand has been compared to the legendary Australian king of consistency Glenn Mcgrath, on numerous occasions.
Enter Ijaz Butt. When nepotism and corruption becomes the norm, and talent, ability, performance are overlooked in favour of knowing the right people; this is when the downfall of institutions starts. PCB’s story has unfolded in front of our eyes in a similar
fashion. Players are being selected on the basis of being “favourites” rather than their performance and this farce is eating away the sport loved by Pakistanis.
The current Pakistan team has been filled with under-performers who are destroying the image of the country and dealing a terrible blow to the legacy of Pakistan cricket. The legacy that has graced the world of cricket with innumerable legends. Winning a
single test match against the Australian team was akin to winning the world cup for Pakistanis who were once a force to be reckoned with.
For people who have a love for the sport of cricket, the Pakistani team was always the most exciting team to watch but the current administrative set up of the Pakistan cricket board has brought the team to its knees. The blame could be greater on no one
but Ijaz Butt the current PCB czar.
The way the PCB handled the recent spot-fixing scandal was nothing short of a joke. The players were left to face the hawkish media on their own with little or no support from the board. Players with known links to match fixing “agents” were given unlimited
freedom to meddle with the affairs of the team causing the biggest sporting embarrassment ever witnessed by Pakistan on the international stage.
The PCB under the leadership of Ijaz Butt needs to sort itself out in a transparent manner and work towards the betterment of the Pakistan cricket team so that the image of the team that has been tarnished could be improved.