Ijaz Butt took on the cricketing world in his own style. He threatened the International Cricket Council on an amendment in the Constitution, fought the governing body on stripping Pakistan from the hosting of 2011 World Cup, weathered opposition from senators and law-makers during his tenure as PCB chairman and not the least took on players’ power in Pakistan cricket.
He was a man of his own words and whims.
In his playing days, Butt – born in Sialkot in 1938, was a bit calmer and composed. A wicket-keeper batsman of talent, Butt could not establish himself in the Test side. He bowed out after playing eight Tests, scoring a meager 279 runs with just one fifty. He had a better first-class record with seven hundreds and 12 half centuries.
After fading out of international cricket, Butt entered the corporate world on the back of his foreign education. He was instrumental in upgrading family business and footwear.
It was his two tenures as cricket board official that earned Butt more fame than as a player. All his tenures as team manager and official of the board were stormy and controversial. When Butt was team manager on Pakistan team’s tour of Australia and the West Indies in 1981-82 an acrimonious incident, in fact a near-brawl, happened between Javed Miandad and Dennis Lillee. It could have boiled out of proportion. Before the 1987 World Cup, Butt was appointed to the powerful seat of BCCP (Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan) secretary.
Under him Pakistan successfully co-hosted the World Cup with India and the management and administration was praised.
Soon after the World Cup one of cricket’s most controversial episodes came about. The Shakoor-Rana-Mike Gatting face-off during the Faisalabad Test. The controversy was allowed to spread to a stage with not only the cricket boards of the two countries but the foreign offices were also involved. Butt backed umpire Rana and then then chief of selector Haseeb Ahsan in seeking an apology from Gatting.
After establishing the Services Industries, Butt again got a bigger chance as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board in 2008. A year after taking charge Butt had to deal with another calamity as the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked on their way to Gaddafi stadium in Lahore. The calamity could have been avoided had the Test been rescheduled to Karachi on the basis of security threats but it did not happen. The incident – which saw seven visiting players injured and eight people killed – suspended all international cricket from Pakistan. A month later, despite Butt’s fight Pakistan was also stripped of co-hosting rights of 2011 World Cup.
More trouble came in 2010 when Butt banned players after the tour of Australia. The then captain Mohammad Yousuf, senior pro Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were either banned or fined on the findings of an inquiry committee following a win-less tour of Australia. It created another storm and on appeals the bans were lifted.
That same year – August 2010 – the most sordid affair of world cricket involved three Pakistan players – then captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif — in a spot fixing scandal. Butt backed his players initially as he was conned by the trio. During that episode, Butt pointed a finger at the England players for their role in the batting collapse that cost England the ODI at The Oval and said the board was investigating a conspiracy to defraud Pakistan and Pakistan cricket. He had to tender an apology after the England and Wales Cricket Board and their players fumed.
The United States of America (CCUSA) also served a legal notice to the PCB over comments made by Butt, where he had referred to them as an “illegal” institution.
Soon after the World Cup 2011, Butt sacked then captain Shahid Afridi on leaking news to the media. He sustained the pressure from media and parliamentarians who did not like Afridi’s sacking. That same year Butt sent a legal notice to the ICC raising questions about the proposed amendment to the ICC’s constitution, which would allow the governing body to suspend a member in case of government interference in the running of a national cricket board.
Within the PCB he also developed differences with the then CEO Salim Altaf and director general Javed Miandad. Both were removed from their posts by Butt.
Ijaz Butt lived his life and his work on his own terms. For the last few months he was indisposed and breathed his last on Thursday.
Butt will be remembered for his blunt comments and out of the book actions.
