Salman Butt feels that his journey back to Pakistan team will be much harder than it was for Mohammad Amir

Pakistan’s left-handed batter Salman Butt would have liked to redeem his career and desperately hoped that he would get included in the Pakistan squad for the test series against the Caribbean. But things do not always go according to our wishes and Salman Butt was ignored for the series against the West indies despite good performances in domestic cricket.

Salman was surprised at the fact that he was ignored from the squad as he gave it all to return to the side after serving a lengthy ban and even jail term. But still, his hopes are intact that someday he would be donning the Pakistan jersey again.

“Yes, I was surprised. I was expecting a place in the Pakistan Test squad after having performed very well in the last domestic season and winning a domestic Cup competition and scoring hundreds in each innings of that final which has never been achieved previously in Pakistan domestic cricket. So I was very hopeful, but now it’s a case of hoping that my selection has been delayed, but it will happen one day,”, he told Firstpost.

Salman was also surprised at the fact the Pakistan Cricket board decided not to hold a press conference when the squad was picked. He also stated that he was not given any explanation about his exclusion from the side.

“I have no clue why I haven’t been picked and this is something that I would like to know as well. Normally there is a press conference when a squad is picked and the media asks questions about the squad that has been picked, but I noticed this time around there was no press conference and the squad was just confirmed in a press release. I haven’t heard of any reason or been given an explanation about why my name was not the squad.”

Salman denied the rumors that somebody had informed him about his selection and also said that he would have asked the question right away if that would have happened.

“I was never told anything like that. Nobody had conveyed any message to me beforehand that I would not be picked, nor that I was not eligible to be picked for the Test squad. If anyone had said this to me then I would have asked the question right away about why am I not being picked for national duties and on what grounds is this being decided.”

The left-hander feels that his comeback to the team would be much harder than that it was for Mohammad Amir despite having runs on the board. His fitness is also up to the mark but it looks like he has to wait a little longer to feature for his nation again.

“That has been very visible. I have played a full season, I have got the runs on the board, I have proved that my fitness is of a good standard, whereas Amir was picked as soon as he was eligible to play for Pakistan. There is no question that my journey back to the Pakistan team will be much harder than it was for Amir.”