A day after being appointed consultant to Chief Selector Wahab Riaz by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), former international Salman Butt on Saturday removed from the post, ESPNcricinfo reported. According to ESPNcricinfo, the chief selector convened a press conference on Saturday to announce that Butt's name was withdrawn from the consultancy panel with immediate effect.
The southpaw, who represented Pakistan in both red-ball and white-ball formats, was suspended after pleading guilty to a spot-fixing incident during a Test against England at Lords in 2010.
Butt's appointment as consultant to the selection panel was met with strong resistance from within the PCB.
Unnamed employee of PCB uncomfortable with Salman Butt's appointment:
According to the report by ESPNcricinfo, an employee of the apex administrative body of Pakistan Cricket was said to be uncomfortable with the appointment of the tainted 39-year-old former cricketer as a consultant and threatened to resign.
In the face of mounting internal pressure and criticism over the appointment of a former cricketer, Wahab convened an urgent press conference on Saturday and confirmed Butt's withdrawal from the selection panel. Riaz said the below, as quoted by Geo TV:
"People were talking all sorts of stuff about me and Salman Butt. Therefore, I am reverting the decision and I have already spoken to Salman Butt and I have told him that he cannot be part of my team. Some media houses and people are resorting to propaganda. Since we’re working under the chairmanship of Zaka Ashraf in a transparent manner, I am thankful to the board for allowing me to choose the people I want to work with."
Earlier, on Friday, the PCB named former players Kamran Akmal, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, and Butt as consultants to the chief selector.
Their appointment was made with immediate effect with their first assignment being the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, beginning on January 12th.
(With inputs from ANI)
