Najam Sethi, Shahryar Khan discriminated against me: Salman Butt

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has said that former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairmen Shahryar Khan and Najam Sethi discriminated against him by only reinstating Mohammad Amir in the national fold, Express News reported on Tuesday.

Butt, Amir and Mohammad Asif were all found guilty in the infamous 2010 spot-fixing scandal and served their multi-year sporting bans. But while Amir was given a shot at redemption, Butt says he was not, despite his strong performances in the domestic circuit over the years.

“I had served out my five-year ban. Year after year I also performed brilliantly in domestic cricket, then why was I discriminated against?” he asked.

“The answer to this can only be given by former chairmen Shahryar Khan and Najam Sethi as there was one standard set for an individual and another for others.”

Butt said that Pakistan went into the World Cup with just three openers, while the Test team has been facing defeats after defeats, but no one changed anything. “Anyone can see that I deserved to be in the side,” he said, adding that “I hope the new team management would take decisions on merit.”

The 34-year-old batsman said that the current crop of players are only used to playing in UAE, while he had played and performed in all kinds of conditions.