“Bringing deserving people would be better” – Salman Butt takes dig at Ramiz Raja

Former player Salman Butt has taken a dig at Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja amid reports that Najam Sethi would replace him for the role.

Butt said that Raja's positive comments on the Rawalpindi pitch, which received a below-average rating from the ICC, shows his incompetence. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Butt said:

“I think that more than negativity, there is incompetence. Work on it and give importance to merit; bringing deserving people would be better. When you are useless, you say there is negativity. When you do good work, things will be positive. If you don’t know how to work, better accept it.”

The statement came as Raja backed the Rawalpindi pitch, saying that the last two Tests (including the Multan Test) yielded results.

“Both the matches produced results. Move on from this narrative. It leads to negative headlines. Our cricket is now a brand. We must take care of it. If you want to spread negativity, there are 10000 other things. We are working on it now and only ask you to have patience.”

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“Test cricket is not our priority; our focus is T20 cricket” – Salman Butt criticises Ramiz Raja-led PCB

Butt also feels that the Ramiz Raja-led PCB is more focused on T20s than Test cricket. That came after Pakistan lost the Test series against England and Australia at home this year.

The former player said:

“Test cricket is not our priority; our focus is T20 cricket. Schools and clubs are also only focusing on it. Those who need to work on it are the ones who are mostly engaged in it.”

The former Pakistan captain added that Babar Azam and Co. could have restricted England to a smaller total after reducing the visitors to 145-5 in the ongoing Karachi Test but allowed them to score 200 more runs to take a first-innings lead.

“Bowlers scored runs," Butt said. "Pakistan had a chance to bowl out England early, which they couldn’t because the bowling department was inexperienced. So, you will have problems with experienced teams.”

Harry Brooks scored his third century in the series and shared a 112-run partnership with Ben Foakes for the sixth wicket. Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson also chipped in with 35 and 29 respectively as the visitors went on to score 354 to take a 50-run first-innings lead.