File photo of Salman Butt© AFP
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According to ESPNcricinfo, the chief selector convened a press conference on Saturday to announce that Butt’s name was withdrawn from the consultancy panel with immediate effect.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.
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.
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.
The T20I series is scheduled to begin on January 12 after the overseas tour of Australia, which will get underway on December 14.
The consultants have been hired to help the team achieve the same success as they did in the last T20 World Cup.
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