Reports: Salman Butt refuses to play for Central Punjab Division 2 team

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has refused to play in the upcoming National T20 Championship after being told that he has been demoted to Central Punjab’s second division team. The tournament gets underway on Wednesday, September 30 with the match between Northern (Pakistan) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Multan.

Butt couldn’t keep his calm after Central Punjab head coach Shahid Anwar told him that he should lead the division two team in the championship as there’s no place in the division one squad. Central Punjab’s first match is against Southern Punjab (Pakistan) on the opening day itself.

Salman Butt lashes out

“Salman asked Shahid Anwar the logic behind this, especially when the top three batsmen of Central Punjab division one team, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad and Babar Azam, were not available due to various reasons.

“Salman also reminded Anwar that he had been the top three scorers of the national T20 tournament for the last three seasons and his team had twice appeared in the final while once also winning it,” a source was quoted as saying in Hindustan Times.

Umar, Shehzad and Babar won’t be a part of the tournament. Akmal is currently serving a ban from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) while Shehzad is recovering from injury. Babar, on the other hand, has been permitted to play for the Somerset in the ongoing T20 Blast in England. He was recently a part of the Test and T20I series against the Three Lions.

Last year, Shehzad, Babar, Umar and uncapped Imran Butt were the leading run-getters for Central Punjab in domestic cricket. On the backs of their stupendous performance, the team also managed to win the Quaid-e-Azam trophy.

As far as Salman is concerned, he has been plying his trade in domestic cricket after returning from suspension following his involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal. Earlier this year, he also played for the Lahore Qalandars, led by Sohail Akhtar, in the 2020 Pakistan Super League (PSL).

In his career, Salman has 8,921, 8,886 and 2,349 runs in first-class, List A and T20 cricket respectively. He also boasts of 49 centuries and 98 half-centuries. He last played for Pakistan in the 2010 tour of England where his career went into the doldrums.