ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt admitted yesterday there were procedural flaws in the appointment of Javed Miandad as director general of the PCB.
"I admit it was our mistake as we didn't sign a contract with Miandad when he was appointed as DG in December," Butt told Pakistan lawmakers of the Senate's Standing Committee on Sports.
Miandad quit as director general last month because he felt the PCB was offering him a "limited role."
Butt claimed Miandad was interfering in selecting the national team and had also asked for a salary of 1.6 million rupees ($20,000) as opposed to the 500,000 rupees ($6,300) offered in the contract.
"Miandad asked for a salary which we could not give to him," Butt said. "I regard Miandad highly as a great cricketer but we can't pay him more than what we had offered him."
The PCB chairman said Miandad, who has also coached the national team three times, wanted more say in the administrative and financial matters of the board. "He's not capable of handling either financial of administrative matters of the PCB," Butt said.
Miandad denied Butt's allegations that there was a dispute over money.
"Money was not an issue and I never asked for the amount which Mr. Butt is saying," Miandad told the committee members.
The former Pakistan captain also showed a copy of a letter which was circulated in the PCB headquarters at Lahore on Dec. 4 last year with the consent of Butt.
According to the letter, directors of game development, international cricket operations, domestic cricket operations, national team coach, manager and chairmen of national junior and senior selection committees all had to report to Miandad.
However, when the contract was offered to him, Miandad was made head of domestic cricket operations and department of game development.
"This job could be done by anyone and I feel it was not what I was actually promised by Mr. Butt," Miandad said.
The former Pakistan captain said he never took a single penny during his two-and-a-half months as director general and was now even willing to work on an honorary basis — provided other PCB officials did likewise. The lawmakers suggested Butt and Miandad sit together and sort out the matter. "We believe that if you both could work together for the betterment of the game it will be good for Pakistan, so it's better you should sit together and resolve this issue privately," committee chairman Zafar Iqbal said.
