It is a waste of time; India is not interested to play against us: Ijaz Butt on India-Pakistan series
Karachi: Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt has said that the present PCB set-up should stop wasting its time trying to organise a series against India as "it would never happen".
"It is a waste of time. It is never going to happen because the Indian board is not interested in playing against us. They use the excuse of their government's permission all the time to not play us," Butt told PTI.
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Butt, a former Test batsman and a controversial figure in Pakistan cricket particularly when he was PCB chairman from 2008 to 2012, was clear in his mind that the Indian board, BCCI, would not play Pakistan in December.
"The Indians playing us at an offshore venue is out of the question. The truth is they don't want to play us. When I was chairman, we even offered to play our home series in India if we got to keep the revenues but they flatly refused," he recalled.
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Butt said that the Indian board's decision to not play Pakistan was due to the seething relations and bad blood between the two countries since independence.
"We may talk about friendship all the time, the fact is Indian cricket officials have always tried to hurt us in every way possible. Ethically they owe us at least two home series but they will not play even now," Butt said.
He noted that for no other series does the BCCI need to involve its government except for Pakistan. "It is nothing but a delaying tool and our board should not waste their energy and time. Pakistan cricket has shown despite so many problems since the last few years that it can stand and survive on its own feet," he said.
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The former PCB chief pointed out that the Indians had shown their true feelings about Pakistan cricket and players by constantly ignoring them in the IPL since 2008.
"There have been so many incidents in recent times where the Indians have treated our sportsmen or women unjustly and been violent but we have tolerated and we still talk about revival of bilateral series. It is a waste of time," Butt added.
He advised the PCB to be clear about its stance on relations with India. "The Indians always wanted to control world cricket and now they are doing that with the help of Australia and England in the ICC. They control the finances now, which is why despite everything N Srinivasan remains the chairman of the world body," he pointed out.
Butt, in whose tenure the 2010 spot-fixing scandal took place and militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, also ruled out the chances of the PCB launching the Pakistan Super League T20 event.
"The PSL is a very costly project and you can only hope to recover the money if the top players of the world come to play in the PSL and I don’t see that happening for many reasons. So I don’t see the league being held."
