Thaindian News

By Omar Khalid
Karachi, Feb 2 (IANS) Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) received yet another jolt Tuesday when Javed Mianded threatened to resign from the post of PCB director-general because of his differences with board chairman Ijaz Butt.

Miandad, Pakistan’s former captain and legendary Test batsman, said that he has been totally sidelined, and added that he would rather quit the board than continue like this.

“Cricket is going through a very critical phase in Pakistan and the need of the hour is a united effort from all of us. I want to play my role as many of my countrymen are looking to me but I’ve been completely sidelined,” Miandad said.

The PCB is already in hot waters following Pakistan’s disappointing run in the ongoing tour of Australia where it was whitewashed in both the Test and One-day series.

Miandad, who played 124 Tests, scoring 8,832 runs, and featured in 233 ODIs to pile up 7,381 runs, also confirmed writing a letter to Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari last month, in which he launched scathing criticism at Butt.

In that letter, Miandad described Butt as “too old” for the important post of the PCB chairman.

“The chairman has become too old for the position he is holding as he seldom remembers his own important official commitments and agreements,” Miandad wrote to Zardari, who is also the PCB’s chief patron.

Zardari was responsible for appointing the 71-year-old Butt as chairman in October 2008 in place of Nasim Ashraf.

“Most of the staff working under the chairman, including many directors, are fed up with his style of working; evidence of which is that many directors have left their jobs during his tenure,” he wrote.

The PCB director (game development) Aamir Sohail, chief operating officer Saleem Altaf and chief selector Abdul Qadir all resigned last year after developing differences with the PCB chief.