Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz has sacked Salman Butt from his selection committee ahead of the team’s tour to Australia. Riaz admitted that he did not want the former cricketer on his panel and conveyed this to Butt as well.

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

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

Wahab Riaz also spoke about the criticism he has faced for naming Salman Butt. He added that the former cricketer has served his sentence and people should leave behind the old controversies of him. The PCB selection chief also attacked the agendas that run against him. He elaborated::

“Salman Butt is not on any PCB panel. For me, he is a good cricketing mind who understands cricket and has been covering domestic cricket for the last 2-3 years. They appointed him my consultant just to obtain his opinion, from which some media and people began to make propaganda. As Chief Selector, it is my decision who will work with me and what support I need. But people started talking about nepotism and dosti, so I am reversing this decision. I have already spoken to Salman Butt and told him that he cannot be part of my team.”

“I think people should move on. What 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 reversed that decision too.

“People need to understand that you have to move on in life, but I think some people maybe started having an agenda because they wanted to dirty the cricket board and extract personal benefit by insulting PCB. Since I am part of this organization, I did not want such a thing to happen, especially because of my decision, so I backed out.”

There are no problems in Indian cricket – Wahab Riaz

Wahab Riaz, while talking about the criticism against him, cited the example of Indian cricket. He stressed that everything is going well there and that Mohammad Azharuddin, accused of match-fixing, is part of the state association.

“In India we have examples of Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja. Now they are working on cricket and there is no problem. “Azharuddin is the president of one of the cricket associations and Jadeja was the batting advisor for Afghanistan in the World Cup.”

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