BRISBANE: Legendary pacer and former coach Waqar Younis believes former Salman Butt should be brought back into the national side on the back of a good domestic season.
The left-handed opener, who had an ordinary start to the first-class season this year, capped it off with two centuries in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy against Habib Bank Limited, helping his team Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) win the tournament.
In the last five matches, the former skipper stroked four centuries and amassed 516 runs at an average of 72.28.
Salman Butt was the captain of Pakistan team when the infamous spot-fixing scandal took place in the 2010 Lord’s Test.
After being found guilty, he along with pacers Mohammad Amir Mohammad Asif was banned from all forms of cricket.
“He (Butt) was playing really well and also he has served his sentence and punishment and I feel personally that everyone deserves a go,” Waqar was quoted as saying by prominent sports website sport.bt.com.
“People are going to have different views. He is a good player, he is playing really well,” Waqar added.
Butt, who finished as the second-highest run-getter in the National T20 Cup this year, with 350 runs from eight innings, followed it up with 749 runs in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He even struck a half-century in the opening match of the Departmental One-Day Cup.
