The former Pakistan captain, Salman Butt has blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the players, who don’t want to be part of Test cricket as much as they want the limited-overs format. They are at number six in the ICC Test team ranking with 89 ratings, whereas Australia holds the top position with 124 ratings.
The Green Brigade are scheduled to host Bangladesh in a two-match Test series after which England will fly to the country in late Autumn for a three-match red-ball series. The Shan Masood-led side is going to tour South Africa for another series of the format towards the end of the year before hosting the West Indies on their return.
In the current team of the format, Pakistan’s most experienced player is their former captain Sarfaraz Khan, who is not a regularity in the team, while their other former captain Babar Azam has featured in 52 Tests. In the current era, some of the other teams have multiple players on their side, who have played more than 100 games in this form.
Salman Butt slams Pakistan’s priority towards Test cricket
Their captain, Shan Masood, has been part of only 33 games in the longest format since making his debut almost 11 years ago. This speaks highly about the interest and form of their players in first-class cricket.
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The former captain of the national side, Salman Butt, who was part of 33 Test matches to score 1889 runs in 62 innings, at an average of over 30 celebrating three centuries and ten half-centuries with a best score of 122, feels that they are not putting much priority towards this format of the game.
One of the reporters asked the veteran about their team’s lack of quality spin options apart from Abrar Ahmed for this format of the game, to which the former batter slammed several players who are not part of the domestic cricket and look to be part of the T20 leagues around the world.
“Do we prioritize Test cricket? Why are we suddenly so worried about our combination? We just don’t want to play the format. Our boys don’t play first-class cricket regularly.” Salman Butt responded in a recent interaction with the media. “We are the only cricket board in the world that says, ‘Instead of one of the Test matches, let’s have two T20Is.”
In the past years, Pakistan had Yasir Shah in the team, who was consistent with his leg-spin bowling in the longest format of the game. In 48 games, he picked up 244 wickets at a bowling average of just over 31, a strike rate of 58.4, and an economy rate of 3.22, with a best bowling figure of 8/41 in an inning.
Butt criticized the PCB for the way they had handled the situation surrounding Babar Azam’s leadership, as he felt that the whole process could have been done in a better way.
The Lahore-born also slammed them for the selection of Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir during the T20 World Cup 2024, despite the two bowlers insulting the Pakistan captain on live TV.
Also Read: Salman Butt Gives India Stern Warning After Refusal To Tour Pakistan For Champions Trophy 2025
“He (Babar Azam) is not a born leader. But the issue is, what have you contributed to make it easier for him? You brought in two guys who humiliated him on TV. Then you changed the captain and brought him back after two series. You are creating corners within the team yourself.” Salman Butt concluded.
Even though he argued that the top-class batter for Pakistan had not been a born leader, he believed that their cricket board should have had better management to avoid their disappointing T20 World Cup campaign.
