“No plan to change PCB boss as Butt doing ‘pretty good job’”: Zardari

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has refused to sack Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ijaz Butt, saying that there is no need to change the board official.

“I have no plan to change the chairman of PCB Ijaz Butt and there is no need to change him as he is doing a pretty good job,” The News quoted Zardari, as saying in an interview on Monday.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was due to meet PCB’s Patron-in-chief Zardari over the recent scandals in Pakistan cricket team and in the PCB, but the president’s statement has now ended all speculations on Butt’s future.

Replying to a question on poor management and mishandling of issues by the PCB chairman, Zardari said, “Every time when our team lose a match, people start to point the fingers on board but when Pakistan team win, these people praise the performance of the team.”

In Pakistan cricket, where the President directly appoints the board chairman, Butt was brought in by Zardari who has been supporting him despite scathing criticism of his chairmanship.

Apart from the match-fixing scandal involving three key players, Pakistan has seen five different Test captains come and go in just over a year- Shoaib Malik, Younus Khan, Mohammed Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Salman Butt, under Butt’s chairmanship and has been under tremendous pressure to resign. (ANI)