Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Director General and former team captain Javed Miandad has on Wednesday announced that he resigns as PCB DG as he was not given complete control and was restricted only to domestic cricket.
"The chairman Ijaz Butt had issued a circular last month outlining my responsibilities and authority but the contract given to me only yesterday is totally different from it and restricting me in many ways" Miandad added. He said that he phoned PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and informed him with thanks of his resignation. He said that his resignation is not linked with the board's decision of replacing Younis Khan as captain of the national team.
He said that he had not signed any agreement with the PCB but was working selflessly for cricket and did not take any penny from the board. Cricket is my game and it is my life. I have given 30-40 years of my life to cricket. Nobody can go beyond me in this field. He further said that I have developed a structure of cricket, which has been appreciated by the board.
Miandad said that "how could I deliver results when I had nothing to do. I want a balance in my powers enabling me to serve cricket in the best possible manner". He said I have no differences with anyone and I have congenial relation with all the members of board. He concluded that he would be available all time for working voluntarily but he should be allowed to work in his own will and wishes.
AFP ADDS: Three times a former Pakistan coach, Miandad was appointed director general in November 2008. The job, which effectively made him number three in the PCB pecking order, was created for him. His decision to quit comes two days after the PCB offered him a contract and a salary of 500,000 rupees (6,328 dollars) a month. "I thought about it (the contract) last night before deciding it's better to quit. I never asked for a contract.
I have not taken any money from the PCB but confining me to domestic issues was not acceptable to me," said Miandad. He criticised Pakistan team's strategies during their 2-1 loss against Sri Lanka last week. Each coaching stint for the 51-year-old has ended in acrimony.
He twice fell out with the players and once was sacked following Pakistan's home defeat against archrivals India in 2004. PCB chairman Ijaz Butt made no immediate comment on Miandad's resignation. "I am hearing this news from the media. I am in transit and until I talk to him I have nothing to say," Butt told AFP by telephone from Dubai. Miandad played 124 Tests for Pakistan, scoring a national record of 8,832 runs.
He also played 233 one-day internationals, scoring 7,381 runs. Butt will return home on February 6 after attending an International Cricket Council executive board meeting in Perth, Australia. He is also scheduled to meet officials from Cricket Australia to discuss the possibility of Australia touring Pakistan later this year.