3 min readDec 1, 2023 03:54 PM IST
First published on: Dec 1, 2023 at 03:50 PM IST
Going in for a complete overhaul of their high-performance cricketing establishment after their World Cup debacle, the Pakistan Cricket Board named three former Pakistan cricketers as consultants to Wahab Riaz, who was himself recently appointed as the chief selector for the national team. But one of the names from the trio is likely to raise some eyebrows.
Kamran Akmal, Rao Iftikhar Anjum and Salman Butt will be consultants to Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz, the PCB announced on Friday. But Salman Butt‘s presence as a consultant has come as a surprise considering his involvement in the infamous spot-fixing scandal in 2010.
In September 2010, the International Cricket Council had suspended Butt, who was then Pakistan captain, along with two other Pakistan players: Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. The trio had conspired to bowl no-balls at specific moments in the Lord’s Test against England at the behest of a bookie.
After the ICC’s ban, the British Crown court had also convicted the trio and sentenced them to spells in prison. Butt served seven months in Canterbury Prison in Kent and was released in 2012. While Amir and Asif both played for Pakistan, Butt only played domestic cricket after his ban was over.
A release from the PCB said that the first assignment for Kamran Akmal, Rao Iftikhar Anjum and Salman Butt as consultants to the chief selector would include the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, set to commence on January 12, 2024 following the conclusion of the Test tour to Australia.
A media report had said that Butt had privately confirmed the details of his misdeed, which included instructing fast bowlers Amir and Asif to bowl no-balls in the fourth Test against England in August 2010.
The former Test captain represented Pakistan in 33 Tests, 78 ODIs and 24 T20Is. He made 5,209 runs spanning the three formats with 11 international centuries. He was in the T20 World Cup winning squad in 2009.
Meanwhile, Kamran Akmal had a 15-year career for Pakistan from 2002 to 2017, during which he played 53 Tests, 157 ODIs and 58 T20Is. Rao Iftikhar played one single Test, 62 ODIs and two T20Is for Pakistan from 2004 to 2010 and took a total of 78 international wickets. He was also part of the side that lifted the T20 World Cup in 2009.
Pakistan Cricket Board recently named three former Pakistan cricketers as consultants to Wahab Riaz. (PHOTO: PCB Media) 
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