PCB - Put Your House in Order

We are to submit a letter to the Chairman of PCB, Mr Ijaz Butt, and asking him to put his house in order, by resigning!

We will attach the list of petitioners here with the letter and now need your support to make some noise!

 

The Letter composed is -

3 June 2011

 

Dear Mr. Ijaz Butt

Please take time out to read this letter. We are sure you are very busy running the affairs of the board but, at the same time, we feel it is imperative for you to listen to the voice of the fans.

We are the ones who wake up at 4 a.m. to watch our team play in Australia and New Zealand. We are the ones who eat, sleep, drink and talk cricket. Naturally, it is very painful for us to see this decline in our cricket. You might point out that we won the 2009 T20 World Cup, made it to the semi-finals in the 2009 Champions Trophy, 2010 T20 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup. Yes, great job. But just sit back and think; was this because of our team’s talent or was this a success of the management? All of us feel that was because of the team’s talent that we got so far in these tournaments.

Here are a few issues that we have with your regime:

1)      Your policy is that of running away from issues. Instead of tackling the cause, you always end up tackling the effect. Take Younus Khan’s captaincy issue as an example: if player power was so strong and negative, why did you allow it grow stronger by agreeing to Younus Khan’s decision? Even if Younus Khan did not want to play, you should have taken some action against the trouble makers.

 

Take the spot-fixing scandal as another example. When the whole world’s media was looking for answers from Pakistan, you failed to come out and face the pressure. Instead of becoming the face of Pakistani cricket and taking active interest in the public handling of this issue, you chose to remain quiet.

 

2)      The isolation of Pakistani cricket. Starting from the attack on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team, when you had all criticized Chris Broad and then your match-fixing allegations on the English team, you have managed to lose a lot of credibility. Consequently, Pakistani Cricket finds itself isolated at the moment. While you can say the attack on the Sri Lankan team was also the responsibility of the law enforcement agencies, as the host board, you should have taken responsibility.

 

3)      No batting coach. The team’s batting continues to suffer because of this. In 26 test matches since October 13 2007, our average batting partnership is worth 27.86 runs. This is just above that of Bangladesh and we lie 8th in a list of 9 test-playing teams. Instead of hiring a batting consultant on a regular basis, this board has failed to provide a learning environment for our new batsmen. It is sad that Mr. Javed Miandad draws a huge salary from the Board but only holds occasional camps. It is unlikely, in fact impossible that the board cannot find any batting coach.

 

4)      Selection Policy. It is widely reported that you have to ‘approve’ all selections. Why is it so? Selection should be autonomous, as seen elsewhere. Even if you claim this to be untrue, it is important to remind you of some selection inconsistencies. Unfortunately, in every affair of the board, inconsistency is the only consistent thing.

 

Hammad Azam: he was picked for the T20 World Cup and then dropped without getting a game. What was consistent about this?

 

Fawad Alam: he averaged a healthy 37. 66 in ODIs under Afridi’s captaincy but was dropped just before the World Cup. A player who was a regular part of the Pakistani squad was unable to find a place in the top 30 cricketers of Pakistan. Worst, even after the World Cup, when he performed on the domestic circuit, he was denied a place in the Pakistan A squad for the Afghanistan series.

 

Shoaib Malik: if there is an integrity issue, why is he allowed to play domestic cricket? Also, why did the board then appoint him Punjab’s captain for the Pentangular Tournament?

 

Adnan Akmal: he was dropped immediately after he became one of the few wicket keepers to have taken six catches in a test match innings. Not only this, he played a counter attacking 44 runs knock in the previous test match that contributed towards our victory. He was unceremoniously dumped for the tour of West Indies.

 

There have been five selection chiefs in your tenure. Shoaib Malik, Younus Khan, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt and Misbah ul Haq have been lucky enough to be captains during your tenure. The only players left are newcomers like Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Wahab Riaz and Azhar Ali. May be you can give them a shot at captaincy too?

 

Now, we come to Shahid Afridi’s issue. If Afridi’s public statements were an issue, this breach of the code of conduct could have been handled easily without having to sack him as captain. If you use the argument of his “disciplinary history”, it will be to your own disadvantage since you appointed him captain knowing about these issues.

 

If it was his reported spat with coach Waqar Younis, why did the board summon Waqar Younis after sacking Afridi as captain? Also, it was the duty of the board to look at the cause of the issue and streamline selection issues. What if our future captains have the same issue? Will the board sack them as well?

 

We don’t know what goes on inside the closed doors of the PCB Office. All we know is that we cried when our team lost the Sydney Test. We cried when the whole world laughed at us after the spot-fixing scandal. It hurts to see our cricket suffer. We feel that responsibility must be apportioned in a fair manner. The management must own up to its mistakes.

 

We urge you to resign. Pakistani Cricket needs an honest, dedicated and visionary leadership. Please help us in saving Pakistani Cricket!

 

Regards

 

Concerned Pakistani Cricket Fans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Concerned Citizens of Pakistan    Contact the author of the petition