Butt likely to continue till India series

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt’s tenure in office has expired but he is likely to be given extension till at least April 2012. A source in the presidency confided that the final notification of Ijaz Butt’s tenure extension will be issued in the next 48 hours and the likely chance is that he would continue in office as chairman till the Pakistan and India series next year.
The source said that the president is very keen to see both the countries resume their cricket relations and as the chairman PCB is already in talks with the Indian authorities, the government wants Butt to hold the office till the series is organised.
The chairman has left for Dubai to attend the ICC’s executive board meeting although it was said that only PCB COO Subhan Ahmed will represent the PCB in the meeting.
Butt’s three-year tenure as board chairman officially ended on October 9, 2011 as per the notification issued by the government in October, 2008 when he took charge.
Reports say that the PCB chairman sought six months extension but President Asif Ali Zardari, who is also chief patron of the PCB, did not extend the tenure and wanted to see such an administrator who with proper diplomacy holds the Pakistan and India series.
An official in the board claimed that the president also did not want to annoy Ahmed Mukhtar at a time when his party is going through one of the most difficult phase in time. However, the presidency sources said that the final decision will be taken in the next two days. A PCB official said. “We are too waiting anxiously for the decision. We are totally in the dark about the development is there is any,” he said. Some reports say that former NBP president Ali Raza have been tipped as the next chairman but a Presidency source said that nothing has been finalized. A former cricketer said that former Test captain, Majid Khan or even Javed Miandad could replace Butt. So the next couple of days will decide the fate of Pakistan cricket. Whether Butt will stay or there will be a diplomat or another former Test cricketer is going to take charge of the board.