Wahab Riaz Removes Salman Butt From Selection Committee 1-day After Appointment

Pakistan Chief selector Wahab Riaz has fired Salman Butt from his selection committee ahead of the team’s tour to Australia. Riaz admitted that he didn’t want the former cricketer in his panel and he conveyed that to Butt as well.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently appointed Salman Butt as a consultant member to the chief selector Wahab Riaz. Along with him, Kamran Akmal and Rao Iftikhar Anjum were also added to the committee, which had its first assignment as the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand in January.

However, a day after the appointment, Salman Butt has been removed from the committee. The decision was taken by chief selector Wahab Riaz.

Wahab Riaz also talked about the criticism that he has been facing for appointing Salman Butt. He added that the former cricketer has served his time and people should move on from his old controversies. The PCB chief selector also lashed out at the agendas running against him. He elaborated::

“Salman Butt isn’t on any PCB panel. For me, he is a good cricketing mind who understands cricket and has been covering domestic cricket for the past 2-3 years. He was made my consultant just to get his opinion, based on which some media houses and people started doing propaganda. As a Chief Selector, it’s my decision as to who will work with me and whose support I need. But people started discussing nepotism and dosti, due to which I am reverting this decision. I have already spoken to Salman Butt and told him that he can not be a part of my team.”

“I think people should move on. Whatever happened was some time ago, and he (Salman Butt) served his punishment. For me, he is a good cricketing mind, and that’s why I wanted him as a consultant. There is no pressure on me – it was my decision, and I am the one who has reverted this decision as well.

“People need to understand that you should move on in life, but I think some people perhaps started running an agenda because they wanted to cast dirt on the cricket board and extract personal benefit out of insulting PCB. Since I am a part of this organization, I didn’t want any such thing to happen, especially due to my decision, so I took it back.”

There is no fuss in Indian cricket – Wahab Riaz

Wahab Riaz while talking about criticism against him cited the example of Indian cricket. He highlighted how things are running smoothly there with Mohammad Azharuddin, who was accused of match-fixing, being part of the state association.

“In India, we have examples of Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja. They are working in cricket now and there is no fuss. Azharuddin is president of one of the cricket associations and Jadeja was Afghanistan’s batting consultant in the World Cup.”

Salman Butt’s appointment was criticized a lot by many in Pakistan. Recently, Ramiz Raja lashed out at PCB and Wahab Riaz for development. It remains to be seen how will Butt react after his departure.