“Don’t Hold A Press Conference After…”: Wasim Akram’s Cheeky Advice For PCB

Pakistan’s iconic pacer, Wasim Akram, slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to sack Salman Butt after 24 hours of his appointment as the consultant to Chief Selector Wahab Riaz. Wasim took to X, slammed the PCB for their decision to remove Butt and stated that the board should stick to their decision. “Don’t hold a press conference after every three minutes. Stick to your decision. You [PCB] should be aware of the consequences of your decision […] Think before [you make a decision]. Be brave,” Akram said in a video he shared on X. Wahab Riaz convened a press conference on Saturday to announce that Butt’s name was withdrawn from the consulting panel with immediate effect, according to ESPNcricinfo. The southpaw, who represented Pakistan in both red-ball and white-ball formats, was suspended after pleading guilty to a spot-fixing incident during a Test against England at Lords in 2010.

For his role in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, Butt was sentenced to 30 months in prison and banned from playing cricket for 10 years. He was involved in a conspiracy to bowl deliberate no-balls during a 2010 Test match against England at Lord’s.

Butt’s appointment as a consultant to the selection panel was met with strong resistance from within the PCB. According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, an employee of the apex administrative body of Pakistan Cricket was said to be uncomfortable with the appointment of the tainted 39-year-old former cricketer as a consultant and threatened to resign.

Earlier, on Friday, the PCB named former players Kamran Akmal, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, and Butt as consultants to the chief selector. Their appointment was made with immediate effect, with their first assignment being the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand.

The T20I series is scheduled to begin on January 12 after the overseas tour of Australia, which will get underway on December 14.