LAHORE – A severe backlash from the public and cricketing experts forced the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday to remove Salman Butt as consultant to chief selector Wahab Riaz.
Butt, a former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, was appointed consultant to the chief selector by the PCB along with Kamran Akmal and Iftikhar Anjum ahead of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand in January.
Butt was sent to prison for 30 months in 2011 for his involvement in spot fixing. The 39-year-old former cricketer also faced a 10-year ban from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Against this backdrop, the PCB faced a severe backlash from former cricketers who were of the view that Butt’s appointment “would reflect badly on Pakistan cricket and could have wider implications”.
“Salman Butt’s appointment as consultant was under consideration. Now we have decided after thinking about this, that we are not appointing him,” Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz told reporters at a press conference in Lahore on Saturday.
Riaz said that people were doing propaganda against him and Butt. “Therefore, I am reverting the decision and I have told him [Butt] that he cannot be part of the selection team,” he added.
He said that Butt was not on any PCB panel, adding that he was a good cricketing mind who understands cricket and has been covering domestic cricket for the past two to three years. “He was made my consultant only as far as taking his opinion is concerned,” Riaz noted.
The chief selector clarified that appointing Butt was solely his decision, but he was revoking it due to “propaganda”. “There is no pressure on me. I had made a decision and I am revoking it,” he added.
Wahab Riaz's press conference at GSL. https://t.co/qx4qDbDaYj
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 2, 2023
The appointments came as part of a series of change across the team’s management structure, which started with the removal of Babar Azam as captain and also saw Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz assume coaching duties and chief selector’s position, respectively.
