Former Pakistan cricket captain cleared of fixing to be removed as consultant. A day after his appointment was made public, Pakistani cricket officials removed spot-fixing convicted former captain Salman Butt from his consulting position in response to outrage from the cricket community, media, and fans.
According to a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) release on Friday, Butt was named as a consultant for the men’s national squad, along with former players Kamran Akmal and Rao Iftikhar Anjum. But a day later, head selector Wahab Riaz abruptly summoned a news conference and resigned Butt from the role.
Riaz told reporters at PCB’s Lahore headquarters on Saturday night, “I am reverting the decision to hire Salman as we are friends and I have been accused of nepotism in appointing him.”
The decision to engage Butt was made after much deliberation, but Riaz stated, “As chief selector, it is up to me whom I want to hire to help me. He has knowledge of domestic cricket and possesses a good cricketing mind.” Salman cannot be a member of my team, I have informed him,” he said.
Despite Butt’s involvement in the greatest corruption case in sports history, the PCB declined to respond to Al Jazeera about his nomination.
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In September 2010, a British tabloid’s undercover tape of sports agent Mazhar Majeed bragging about how he could set up players to rig games for money exposed Butt as the main figure in a spot-fixing scandal that rocked the cricket world.
In 2010, during a Test match at Lord’s against England, Pakistani captain Butt and his colleagues, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, were found guilty of corruption. Pakistan had deliberately bowled no-balls during the match.
At Canterbury Prison in southeast England, Butt served seven months out of a two-and-a-half-year sentence, while Asif and Amir completed half of their one-year and six-month sentences, respectively.
The opening batter, who participated in 24 Twenty20 matches, 78 One-Day Internationals, and 33 Tests, was also banned from the game for five years.
