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Teary Salman Butt apologises to Shahid Afridi over the match-fixing row
Butt was the Test captain in 2010 when the match-fixing scandal broke out.
Published: Sep 18, 2015, 07:35 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 18, 2015, 07:35 PM (IST)
Until five years back, Salman Butt was Pakistan’s next big batting hope. Having been named as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team at the young age of 25, he was on the path of achieving greatness. Then came one weak moment in his career and changed his life forever.
Butt was the Test captain in 2010 when the match-fixing scandal broke out. He, along with pacers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, was found guilty of spot fixing and handed over a 5-year ban by the ICC, and also spent some time in the jail in United Kingdom. There was one man though, who had advised him not to fall prey to the bookies. He was none other than Shahid Afridi.
Recently, when the disgraced trio of Butt, Asif and Amir were at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore, as their ban ended recently. The Zimbabwe bound Pakistan team was also training there and when Butt saw Afridi, he reportedly went up to him and apologised with teary eyes. A PTI report claims that Butt told Afridi he was sorry for what had happened in England and that he should have listened to his (Afridi’s) advice. He asked the Pakistan T20 captain to forgive him for his role in the spot-fixing scandal.
Afridi reportedly kept quiet and then obviously embarrassed by the situation mumbled to Butt that he should focus on his cricket. The report also quoted a source close to the players saying some of the national team players were uncomfortable to see Butt, Asif and Aamer at the NCA and had conveyed this to their team management. Both Afridi and head coach Waqar Younis had appeared as witnesses against the trio when the ICC anti-corruption tribunal held its inquiry into the spot-fixing scandal in 2011.
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Butt, who has remained apologetic for his involvement in the scandal since his five-year ban ended, can resume playing First-Class from February 2016, provided he successfully undergoes a rehabilitation programme by the PCB.