Karachi, Sept. 2: Pakistan withdrew Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif from the tour of England on the advice of the International Cricket Council, a source in the team said on Thursday.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt was advised by the ICC to not consider the three players for selection until the investigations into alleged spot-fixing during the recent Test series against England are completed,” the source said. Pakistan high commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan told reporters in London that the trio had asked to be withdrawn from matches against England because of the ‘mental torture’ they had undergone.
The source said the PCB was told in clear terms that the ICC could not have the three playing when they were still under investigation and their presence could cause problems for the England and Wales Cricket Board and bring into question the credibility of the matches.
Pakistan are due to play two T20 matches and five one-day internationals against England from Sunday. Former Test captains Aamir Sohail and Zaheer Abbas backed the decision to drop the three. “I think it is a sensible move because in their presence people would have serious doubts whether the results in the one-day series were fair,” Sohail said.
Abbas said the decision to sideline the players would increase the credibility of the PCB and highlight their intent on having zero-tolerance on corruption in cricket. “If the players are proved innocent, the PCB can say we played our role in this fight against corruption,” he said.
The source said that the three players were also due to be questioned by Scotland Yard officers in London again on Thursday. A PCB spokesman in Lahore said that the Pakistan management has so far not called for any replacements.
“If we get a request to send replacements for the one-day series they will be sent immediately. But I think the situation now is that we wait for the report of the investigations into the allegations to come out,” said media manager Nadeem Sarwar.
He said there was no time frame given for the investigation to be completed. A national selector said the replacements might be from outside the four stand-bys named for the one-day series.
The selectors while announcing the one-day squad earlier this month had named wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, batsman Asad Shafiq, pace bowler Muhammad Irfan and left arm spinner Abdul Rehman as the stand-bys. “We might have to pick someone from outside the stand-bys as we require an opener and two pace bowlers,” said the selector, who declined to be named.