Shahid Afridi expresses displeasure at the possible return of Salman Butt

Former Pakistan captain and all-rounder Shahid Afridi expressed his displeasure on the possible return of Salman Butt to the national side. He said that an example must be set to the youngsters that corruption is not tolerated in cricket and committing the offence won’t allow you to represent your nation ever again. He further said that if the PCB had set an example in the past the recent spot-fixing debacle in the PSL wouldn’t have happened.

Butt was the captain of Pakistan when the tainted trio of Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif was involved in spot-fixing during a match against England in 2010. They were accused of bowling deliberate no-balls in return for hefty sums. Later the tainted trio was imprisoned by the UK Court for committing the offence.

“Such measures will keep players for acting irresponsibly in the future. My stance has been simple from day one. Had we set this example in the past, incidents like the recent spot-fixing scandal would never have emerged,” Afridi was quoted as saying by Dawn. Despite Mohammad Amir returning to the national team during their Test series in England final year, Butt and Asif failed to register a comeback despite impressive performance in the domestic circuit.

Another spot-fixing controversy emerged during the recently concluded Pakistan Super League (PSL) where a number of players were accused of being involved in the spot-fixing scandal. 5 players were suspended which included Pakistan international starts Sharjeel khan, Mohammad Irfan and Nasir Jamshed. The other two were Shahzaib Hasan and Khalid Latif.

Afridi who also visited the ICC Academy in Dubai to support his franchise Peshawar Zalmi and lauded the team management for organising a talent hunt in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last year. “Academies and facilities exist in major cities but in small cities of the province no such facilities exist so all credit to the coach management that they reached out to talented cricketers in rural areas,” Afridi said.

Speaking of the new look team that is competed in the Emirates T20 Trophy, “The Peshawar Zalmis will be participating in the Emirates T20 and majority of the players on tour are those that emerged from last year’s talent hunt. Who knows, some of these players may become a part of the national squad very soon,” he concluded.