PSL4: Salman Butt stages not a good comeback

SHARJAH: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has returned to big cricket two years after the ICC lifted the ban and allowing him to play all forms of cricket from September 2, 2015.

The 34-year-old batsman has staged his comeback here on Friday, playing for Lahore Qalandars against Multan Sultans in the fourth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He made 17 runs off 19 balls with a four and was bowled by left-arm pacer Junaid Khan.

In January 2016, the Pakistan Cricket Board allowed Butt to play in the National One Day Cup, in which he played for WAPDA and scored 536 runs in seven matches at an average of 107, ending up one of the leading run-scorers in the tournament. He was the man of the match in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2016-17, scoring a century in each innings of a match. WAPDA won the title.

During the national T20 Cup 2017-18, he jointly with Kamran Akmal set the world record opening partnership in T20 history with an unbeaten 209 run stand, surpassing the previous highest opening partnership of 207 in any form of T20 cricket held by Joe Denly and Daniel Bell- Drummond. The record stand was also the third highest partnership for any wicket in T20 history.

In April 2018, he was named in Sindh squad for the 2018 Pakistan cup. He was the leading run-scorer in the 2018-19 Quaid-e-Azam One-day Cup, with 559 runs in ten matches. He was also the leading run-scorer for WAPDA in the 2018-19 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, with 610 runs in ten matches.

Prior to his ban and prison sentence, he had been a regular left-handed opening batsman in Test and ODI International cricket. He made his Test debut in 2003 against Bangladesh, and a year later, made his ODI debut against West Indies. He was appointed captain of the Pakistan Test squad in July 2010.

He was implicated in allegations of spot fixing in July 2010 after which he was stripped of the Pakistan captaincy in August 2010 and removed from the ODI squad pending criminal proceedings. He was banned from playing cricket for ten years, of which five years was a suspended sentence. In November 2011, he was convicted and jailed for 30 months for conspiracy charges relating to the spot-fixing, along with Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. On June 21, 2012, he was released from jail. In August 2015, bans on Butt and fellow conspirators and were lifted by the ICC, allowing them to return to all forms of cricket from September 2, 2015.