In a tug-of-war of idiocy, few can compete with Ijaz Butt. Shahid Afridi presented a case with his own brand of thick-headedness, but was overwhelmed by an unprecedented gamut of ludicrousness which range from stubborn misuse of authority to sheer incompetence in man management. Orchestrating captaincy marry-go-rounds seems to be Mr. Butt’s preferred vocation. A total of eleven captaincy changes in his not-so-exalted tenure alone is enough to vindicate the claim. However the latest episode in this catastrophic soap opera has made our cricket the global laughing stock.
In an ostensible manifestation of disciplinary check, Afridi was sacked as the captain amidst a multitude of raised eyebrows. The retaliation and the “conditional” retirement that followed, added fuel to the fire, and Butt was hell bent upon creating his own genre of fascism.
The PCB chairman sunk to the nadir of egocentricity by blockading Afridi’s route to his county Hampshire. The NOC was declared null and void since the player in question had opted out of national contention and hence the ‘privileges’ of the central contract too stood retracted.
Considering the fact that the two men at loggerheads come from the opposite extremes of the popularity scale, Butt’s audacity created needless turbulence. What should have been primarily a sporting matter became the hub of political infiltrations. The brusque confrontation that lingered on has finally culminated in a Rs4.5 million fine and the reactivation of the NOC which allows the flamboyant former captain to continue to ply his trade with Hampshire. Much ado about nothing?
It goes without saying that the lessons learnt from the shambolic episode are the square root of zilch. Since we have Butt at his antagonistic best, and under his “astounding” era our off-field antics have more often than not forestalled the on-field performances en route to back pages of the tabloids. As if the captaincy circus wasn’t appalling enough, the Butt legacy has had scores of estranged seniors, fixing allegations, bans, unceremonious retirements and imprudence galore!
Failure to revive cricket in Pakistan and the ease with which the World Cup hosting rights were relinquished has not only forced one and all to question the sanity of the regime but has also cast doubts over the future of our cricket.
Shahid Afridi should’ve known better than to indulge in this mud-fight. His comments following his return from the West Indies were both irresponsible and they did breach the code of conduct. Having said that, Butt’s lust for throwing his weight around and its callous demonstration not only blew the entire matter out of proportion, it gave the media vultures all over the globe another raw prey to put their mouth in.
Out of favor Yasir Hameed, meanwhile has been busy of late shushing some of these vultures. The four-month long tussle with News of the World has finally proved to be successful. NOTW had uploaded a video and story featuring the Pakistani batsman, which implied that Hameed had little faith in his team mates who he thought colluded with the bookies. He claimed the footage was taken out of context, which portrayed him candidly discussing the Lord’s spot-fixing debacle.
Delayed justice for Yasir: Yasir had filed a four-pronged complaint against the British tabloid in February, accusing them of “inaccurate reporting, breach of privacy, misrepresentation of character and harassment”. The UK Press Complaint Commission has finally announced the verdict in Hameed’s favour. NOTW have been asked to remove the video from their official website.
‘News of the World’ are notorious for their repellently pale version of yellow journalism which has seen them being sued by a wide array of celebrities. Hollywood dynamos Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie famously took the newspaper to court in December 2009. Manchester United great Ryan Giggs sued NOTW as recently as last Wednesday over allegedly hacking into his mobile phone.
While our off-field theatrics nourish the overseas bulletins, their journalists loiter around awaiting any piece which can be touted to create stir and uproar. The personage having command over the strings of the nation’s favourite sport must ensure that things don’t continue to fall apart. We need a stable head at the helm – someone with a calming influence who can pull scattered pieces together.
Not someone who abuses his powers to pester the national heroes and throws his toys out of the pram as soon as question marks are raised.
