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Fans demand Pakistan chief’s sacking after defeats

KARACHI - Furious Pakistani cricket fans Friday staged a protest and burnt bats and stumps after the team’s defeats in the Test and one-day series in Australia, demanding the removal of the cricket chief.

Around 250 young cricketers from various academies in Karachi chanted slogans against the team and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) during the hour-long protest under the banner of the “Save Pakistan cricket campaign.”

The protesters chanted “Go, Butt, Go!”, “President Zardari, save Pakistan cricket”, and “Goodbye Pakistan cricket” as they burnt dozens of cricket bats, stumps and an effigy of PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.

Pakistan’s national team were blanked 3-0 in the Test series and trail a five-match one-day series 4-0 on their dismal tour of Australia.

Amir Akram, chairman of the recently-formed campaign, said President Asif Ali Zardari must remove Butt, blaming him for destroying the game.

“Cricket is our love and the recent defeats have disheartened millions of fans across the country, so we demand President Asif Zardari to remove Butt, who is too old to run the board,” Akram said of the 71-year-old PCB chairman.

Zardari is the patron of the PCB and appointed Butt in October 2008.

Butt has also come under pressure from the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports, which has been demanding his removal since last year.