“Things were supposed to be exposed and England did that” – Salman Butt takes a dig at Pakistan cricket

Former captain Salman Butt has taken a dig at Pakistan cricket after their 0-3 whitewash against England at home in the recently concluded Test series. He believes that Ben Stokes and Co. have exposed Pakistan cricket in a way that requires drastic changes in domestic cricket to groom quality players to deliver in international cricket.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Butt said:

“4:00 - We are showing things that are far away from reality. Anyhow, these things were supposed to be exposed and England did that. Though they were not at full strength, what that team did to you?"

He continued:

"Billi agar kabootar ko dekhkar aankhe band kar le to usse reality to change nahi hogi. (If a pigeon closes its eyes after seeing a cat, then reality won't change.)”

For the uninitiated, Babar Azam and Co. have lost both Test series against England and Australia at home this year. They, however, tied the series 1-1 in Sri Lanka.

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“We better get serious in the other two bigger formats” – Salman Butt on Pakistan cricket

Butt also mentioned that Pakistan should get serious about Test cricket and ODIs instead of just focusing on T20 cricket. He wants youngsters to play first-class and List-A cricket, which would benefit them across formats and not the other way around.

On this, he said:

“Do we want to do everything in T20s or want to exist in the other two formats as well? If you leave out longer formats, you won’t be able to run T20s solely based on PSL. Overall skill levels will be low. For the sake of Pakistan cricket, we better get serious in the other two bigger formats.”

Butt added:

“If you are coming prepared from longer formats, if you have four to five good seasons under your belt, then definitely you’re better prepared for all forms of cricket rather than being a specialized product from Day 1 into the shorter format. Meanwhile, if you think you can go from shorter formats to longer formats, it’s not going to happen.”

Babar Azam and Co. will next play a couple of Tests against New Zealand, which starts in Karachi on Monday, December 26. The hosts will then begin their 50-over World Cup preparations with a three-match ODI series against the same team.