LAHORE: Salman Butt’s role as a consultant for Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief selector Wahab Riaz lasted just over 24 hours.

The 39-year-old Salman was on Saturday removed from his role with Wahab saying he made the decision in the wake of incessant backlash over the appointment.

Salman, who was banned over the infamous spot-fixing scandal of 2010 for which the former skipper publicly apologised, was named as one of three consultants to Wahab alongside Kamran Akmal and Rao Iftikhar Anjum on Friday.

Wahab admitted that the decision to induct Salman, who he said “had served his punishment”, came from him and he was reverting it.

“I gave recommendations for this team of consultants to PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf and he accepted it for which I’m thankful,” Wahab told reporters at a news conference arranged at a short notice at the Gaddafi Stadium.

“As a chief selector it is my decision to select people I want to work with and want support from. But I’m being blamed for friendship and of nepotism, so I am reverting my decision and I told Salman that he is not part of my team because I don’t want that people to link us in any way.”

Wahab clarified that the selection committee comprised of Tauseef Ahmed, Wajahatullah Wasti and Wasim Haider with Salman, Kamran and Anjum being in a team of consultants.

“I want to clarify that the consultants don’t have a role as members of the selection committee, but some people have purposely taken it on the wrong side, alleging that I’m promoting friendship,” he said. “The consultants were all players who had played cricket in the modern era and they were going to give me feedback over the emerging talent.”

Wahab defended his move of picking Salman as a consultant. “He has a good cricketing mind and covers domestic cricket as a commentator so I picked him to get his opinion on players … but some people, having their own agenda to defame the PCB, started negative propaganda.”

Wahab negated the impression that the move to remove Salman was initiated by the higher-ups or that there was an external pressure.

Hours earlier, during an interview with Dawn, Wahab had offered a similar defence over his move to appoint Salman, who was banned for 10 years by the International Cricket Council and served a prison sentence in England.

“Personally, I believe things should move on. He faced the punishment for his sins. People should accept the fact that life is the name of moving on,” Wahab said.

Wahab added that he had a blunt personality and the courage to take a stand, while dispelling the notion he will resign as well.

“I will not step down from the post as I will only quit when the performance of the Pakistan team is not up to the mark,” he clarified, adding former Test batter Asad Shafique has been roped in as consultant in place of Salman.

During the interview earlier, Wahab said he had expected his decision to backfire.

“I was expecting it [the backlash],” he said. “In the past, many players have played for Pakistan despite their names having come up in fixing. I think at that time, everyone moved on and I think the law should be equal for all.”

Butt masterminded spot-fixing incident in the Lord’s Test against England where Pakistan pacers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif bowled no-balls at pre-determined times. Only Amir, who was a teenager at that time, returned to play cricket for Pakistan.

Wahab said that he’d been a team-mate of both Salman and Kamran but said he wasn’t making the selection committee a “friends club”.

“Yes we played together,” he said. “Kamran also retired recently and has an idea of modern-day cricket while Anjum played good white-ball cricket for Pakistan. But here we are taking decisions for the betterment of Pakistan cricket.”

Wahab said that both he and recently-appointed Team Director Mohammad Hafeez were looking to bridge the communication gap between the players and the selection committee.

“We will give clarity to the players where and when we see them we will convey how we are seeing them,” Wahab said. “That develops good communication. As a player, I was also the victim of this miscommunication but we are here to give answers to everyone.

“We are answerable for the team’s performance [in the upcoming Test series] against Australia,” he added. “In the past, we did not prepare back-ups but now we will do that. For every player, we can be questioned and we will answer them with facts and figures.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2023