Tainted Pakistan opener Salman Butt awaits a call back into the national side

He played his last Test match in 2010, against England, and it remains a turning point of his career for the worse. Salman Butt was captaining Pakistan in that forgettable game at Lord’s in which he was implicated along with two of his bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, in a spot-fixing scam. The 34-year-old left-hand opening batsman has served the ban and now expects a call for a comeback into the national side.

Butt, who has scored over 5,000 runs in international cricket since his debut in 2003, continues to impress with his batting skills at the domestic level but the selectors haven’t thought of reconsidering him for the national side yet. Butt has said in a recent interview that he has been in a good touch though added that it is up to the selectors and the cricket board to consider him for selection.

“By the grace of Allah, I am the top scorer of the Quaid-e-Azam One Day Cup. I have scored more than 500 runs, with average and strike rate both in excess of 90. It is there for the selectors and the PCB to see and to select me. On the basis of my form and fitness, if they think I am deserving then they should select me,” Butt said in an interview with cricingif.com.

Butt a part of PSL draft

Butt, who has 11 international hundreds and averages over 37 in T20s, is part of the upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) draft for the second year in a row. Last year though, no franchise had shown interest in picking the batsman. The Lahore-born cricketer, however, believes that it is tournaments like Quaid-e-Azam Trophy that produce talents for Pakistan and not PSL.

“Quaid-e-Azam trophy is its production house. If we do not pay attention to our domestic cricket, we will face problems in the PSL as well. Quaid-e-Azam trophy is our base and our launch pad. If we respect that, we will be able to maintain a decent standard of our cricket as well,” he said.

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