Butt unhappy with Sindh minister's comments on umpiring

"It is true that one or two decisions didn't go in our favour. But we can't protest because the International Cricket Council works under a system which all the member boards, including Pakistan have accepted," Butt said on his return from South Africa yesterday. "The ICC formally complained to me about Shah's statement and asked me that if he has any evidence of any hanky panky taking place in the semifinal he should produce the same to the ICC. That is why we have asked Shah to give an explanation in writing within three days," Butt said.

Shah, who is also the President of Karachi City Cricket Association and a member of the PCB governing council, was earlier showcaused by the cricket board after the ICC took exception to the statement.

PCB Chairman also rubbished the match fixing allegations doing the rounds.  "This is nothing new. Whenever our team play and lose these allegations crop up and until today no one has given any evidence about match fixing taking place to us. Even while touring Sri Lanka recently the same allegations were made," Butt said.
Butt was disappointed with the statement of the Chairman of National Assembly standing committee on sports, Jamshed Dasti, who had alleged that Younus Khan's men might have under-performed deliberately in the matches against Australia and New Zealand.

"They shouldn't give such statements. The NA standing committee is a government body and has every right to ask us questions. We will go whenever they call us on any issue. But I have always told them not to criticise or disturb the players. They are free to question the board officials at any time that there is their prerogative," Butt said.

Butt also made it clear that he was quite satisfied with the performance of the team in the eight-nation tournament in South Africa. "We had one bad match against New Zealand, otherwise the team played well. We fought well and hard against the eventual champion Australia which is a very good sign for me and shows the team is slowly improving," Butt insisted.

He also said that the win over India in the tournament was a big one as Pakistan had beaten India in an ICC event by such a comfortable margin after a long time.