Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt slammed India veteran speedster Mohammed Shami after his remarks for the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) selection criteria for their squad. Butt believes that the India pacer indirectly targeted former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for the selection. Butt opined that Shami took the indirect dig on Inzamam for selecting his nephew Imam-Ul-Haq during his stint as a chief selector.
Shami said that Pakistan should stop targetting India and instead they should improve their selection and send a good team in ICC events.
"I don't understand why people find it necessary to target others. Improve your selection, and send a good team, they can do it, the talent is there. Do one thing, make it a family team if you want to run the team based on personal relations" said Shami in Shubankar Mishra podcast.
After Shami's comment on team selection, Butt said that his remarks were below the belt and he should not have said such things. He also said Imam was selected in the squad based on his performance.
"Pakistan should not pick teams based on relations and friendships. Mohammed Shami's comments were targeted towards Inzamam-ul-Haq. He targeted Inzamam by speaking about Pakistan picking their team based on personal relations, and I think this is wrong. This is wrong because if you look at Imam's record, he came into the Pakistan team on the basis of his performance. He was also dropped when he failed. Shami's remarks were below the belt and he shouldn't have said such things" said Butt on his youtube channel.
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However, Pakistan Cricket team have already hit the rock bottom as they are unable to perform since T20 World Cup 2022. The Babar Azam-led side also made a forgetful outing in the T20 World Cup 2024 where the side failed to qualify for the Super 8 of the marquee event and this is the first time in the history of the tournament when Pakistan were failed to qualify for the group stage.
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