Shahid Afridi blocked my return to Pakistan team, claims former captain Salman Butt

Karachi: Disgraced former captain Salman Butt has claimed that Shahid Afridi blocked his return to the Pakistan team for the 2016 World T20 despite him serving the five-year ban following the 2010 spot-fixing scandal. Butt said he was close to being selected for the World T20 in India after he had resumed playing domestic cricket following the completion of his ban in 2015 but Afridi resisted his selection. [caption id=“attachment_615587” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt. Reuters[/caption] “I was called to the NCA by the head coach, Waqar Younis, and batting coach, Grant Flower, and they took me to the nets and checked my fitness,” Butt said on the Gsports show on GTV News channel on Tuesday night. “Waqar bhai asked me if I was mentally ready to play for Pakistan again and I said yes very much.” The 34-year-old said everything was cleared for his comeback to the Pakistan team before Afridi, who was the captain then, stepped in and blocked his return. “I don’t know what prompted him to do this but no I didn’t go to him or speak about it. I didn’t feel it was right. But what I know is that Waqar and Flower told me I was playing the World Cup, and then Afridi resisted,” Butt claimed. Pakistan fared poorly in the World T20 as a result of which both Afridi and Waqar were forced to resign. Butt said he didn’t think individual players should be allowed to decide the fate of players returning from bans. The Test opener said he was also close to selection in the Pakistan team in early 2017 when the spot-fixing scandal broke out in the Pakistan Super League. “I don’t know what more I have to do to be considered for selection again. I have completed my rehabilitation and I have scored runs. “But I think it is great injustice if no one is clear with us and tells us no matter what we do we are not going to be picked for Pakistan again. “I don’t see the use of working so hard and doing so much if we are left to remain in uncertainty.” Further, Butt called for a strong domestic structure for overseas success. “Look when India won the recent Test against Australia, Virat Kohli credited India’s domestic cricket for the success in bowling and batting,” said Butt, who played 33 Tests and 78 ODIs in his international cricket career. “India is doing well because their players are only allowed to play in the IPL T20 cricket and have to play Ranji Trophy unlike us where most players tend to avoid four-day domestic cricket. “Look most of them (Pakistani players) have not even played 50 first class games. Not many of them have spent time in domestic four-day cricket. Worse they have played all their cricket mostly in UAE conditions,” he added. Pakistan will take on South Africa in the second Test beginning Thursday at Cape Town and Butt said changing the playing XI will not make much of a difference. “Even if changes are made in the Pakistan team for the second Test in South Africa, I don’t think it will make a difference,” he said. “We just don’t have players who can be expected to come up with a big innings after every three or four innings. “What we need to do is somehow get to 300 in the second Test and if Muhammad Abbas plays we stand a good chance of winning.” He also questioned in general that when players were defined as being fit for one or more formats, the same rule should also apply to the head coach. “I think we need to see if Mickey Arthur or for that matter any coach has the temperament like a player to adjust to all formats or which format,” he said. “Because a coach can’t expect to have the same approach or expectations for all formats. That is not practical. I wonder if the head coach has the penchant to handle all three formats or test cricket.” Butt and his teammates, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir were caught in the spot-fixing scandal on the tour of England in August, 2010. Butt was named as Pakistan captain after Afridi had stepped down as Test captain following a defeat in the first Test at Lord’s. He was banned from playing cricket for ten years, of which five years was a suspended sentence. He was released from jail in 2012.