Ijaz Butt finally wakes up
During the ongoing tour of England, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 has been a target of criticism by both British and Pakistan media, and cricket lovers at large, for his rather passive approach to the menacing spot-fixing scandal that occured on August
29th. The allegations set forth by a British tabloid newspaper, News of the World (NoTW), alleged three Pakistani cricketers to have been involved in spot-fixing, the alleged players being Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, and Mohammad Asif.
Ijaz Butt was seen evading the entire issue and instead of playing a leading and supporting role for the Pakistan team as the chairman of PCB, he played the disappearing act as he was nowhere to be seen by the media, and was not
making a single statement to defend the integrity of his players or of Pakistan at large.
Fresh allegations of spot-fixing emerged where another British tabloid newspaper called “The Sun” claimed that the 3rd ODI was also fixed. It reported that before the 3rd ODI, they had been informed by an
Indian bookie in Dubai about certain scoring patterns of Pakistan innings which seemed to have been in consistence with the way http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 batted in the match.
The ICC took the words of mouth for granted, while the newspaper is known for its scandalous reports and dubious sources, quite literally and probed an investigation into the case. Ijaz Butt and PCB members were extremely disappointed
that, being a member of ICC, they found about the investigation through media.
Everyone expected the reaction of Ijaz Butt to have been that of mere indifference or silence, but to everyone’s surprise, he was extremely infuriated and said that the PCB will conduct its separate investigation on the people,
parties and the governing bodies that are responsible for such sinister conspiracies and are trying to put Pakistan cricket into jeopardy. Butt was clearly on the offensive this time around and went on to say that if need be, he will take the matter to the
courts. He also feels that intent of these British tabloid papers also needs to be questioned as they are not exposing bookies as such but are clearly targeting the Pakistan team.
"This is not a conspiracy to defraud bookies but a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan and Pakistan cricket," Butt said.
He said that according to the bookie circles, many English players were involved in match-fixing in the third one-day international between the two teams, and that also justifies the sudden collapse of the English batsmen.
When asked if he had substantial evidence to support such a statement, he responded by saying: "Did you ask the other people who made allegations against our players whether they had any proof? What did they say? We have thought
about this properly and we have positive proofs here before us just like they say they have also." He made these remarks when he was addressing Espn Cricinfo.
The Chairman also expressed his concerns on the “August bodies”, saying that he feels that they are involved in the conspiracy as well. He also insinuated that the British media has been quite unfair and biased in dealing with
this entire situation.
He expressed extreme regret on the role of ICC in the matter – the relationship between ICC and Ijaz Butt is seen to be getting much worse, especially after Mr. Butt has finally decided to defend his position and the integrity
of Pakistan cricket. It really makes one wonder though, that why did he not take this approach when the spot-allegations occurred for the first time around? It would have put Pakistan cricket on a much better position, and might have also prevented the provisional
ban of the three players. A reaction of silence proved to be very damaging for Pakistani cricket, as it is usually interpreted as acceptance of the crime committed.
It is yet to be seen how the ICC reacts to this proclamation of Ijaz Butt, but one thing is for sure, Pakistani fans will be delighted to see that finally PCB will be investigating and consequently exposing the names of organizations
and people involved in undermining Pakistan.
Tags: