Salman Butt hoping international return after replacing Hafeez in PSL

Butt served a five-year ban from September 2010 to September 2015 after being found guilty of spot-fixing by the International Cricket Council on the tour of England in 2010

Pakistan opener Salman Butt is eyeing an international comeback after replacing injured Mohammed Hafeez in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL). Hafeez was ruled out after fracturing his right thumb while trying to take a catch of his own bowling. He has now been advised to undergo surgery either in Dubai or London and he has been released by Lahore Qalandars and AB de Villiers has been named as the skipper.

Butt is looking forward to capitalizing this opportunity to earn his place back in the Pakistan dressing room. He addressed a press conference before leaving for the tournament and said, “I really hope that if I can come good and help the team win then definitely the other things will work out.”

“These things always happen in life. Somebody goes down somebody comes up … nobody can control that. I wish him (Hafeez) all the best in his recovery and hope he’s back for Pakistan,” he added.

Butt has played 74 T20s and scored 2,278 runs at a strike rate of 113.5. He has represented Pakistan in 24 T20s, scoring 595 runs at a strike rate of 107.98.

Butt served a five-year ban from September 2010 to September 2015 after being found guilty of spot-fixing by the International Cricket Council on the tour of England in 2010. His teammates, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir were also given similar bans by the ICC which expired in 2015.

Butt, who has not been considered for national selection since his ban expired despite doing well in domestic cricket in all formats, was a member of the national squad that won the World T20 in 2009 in England.