Pakistan Cup: Salman Butt snapped up by Punjab, Asif unpicked

E-Paper | May 23, 2026

The Shoaib Malik led Punjab side snapped up former Pakistan captain Salman Butt while Mohammad Asif did not make it to any of the five teams for the upcoming Pakistan Cup as the draft for the domestic one-day event was held in Lahore on Tuesday.

Asif, along with Butt and Mohammad Amir was convicted after the spot-fixing saga which shook Pakistan cricket in 2010.

Butt and Asif also featured as teammates during the National One-Day Cup held earlier this year with the former piling up 536 runs and the latter bagging 7 wickets in as many matches.

However, Mohammad Amir made it to the Sindh side which will be captained by newly appointed Pakistan T20 skipper Sarfraz Ahmed.

Former T20 captain and star all-rounder Shahid Afridi also remained unpicked.

Along with Sarfraz and Malik, captains Younis Khan (KPK), Azhar Ali (Balochistan) and Misbah-Ul-Haq (Federal Capital) chose 14 players each from a draft which consisted of 150 players.

The draft process was also adopted during the teams’ selection for the Pakistan Super League which was held earlier this year.

Earlier, the PCB also announced that the match fees in this tournament will be doubled in comparison to a regular domestic one-day game.

The Pakistan Cup kicks off on April 19 in Faisalabad.

Squads from

Sindh

Sarfraz Ahmed (capt.), Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Imad Wasim, Sohaib Maqsood, Khalid Latif, Sami Aslam, Khurram Manzoor, Fawad Alam, Anwar Ali, Bilal Asif, Rumman Raees, Mohammad Waqas, Saad Ali, Hassan Khan

Punjab

Shoaib Malik (capt.), Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Butt, Asad Shafiq, Zulfiqar Babar, Amir Yameen, Saad Nasim, Ehsan Adil, Shan Masood, Asif Ali, Ahmad Butt, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Adnan Ghaus, Kashif Bhatti, Saif Badar

KPK

Younis Khan (capt.), Mohammad Asghar, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Shehzad, Azizullah, Faheem Ashraf, Ramiz Aziz, Rahat Ali, Naveed Yasin, Bismillah Khan, Zohaib Khan, Mussadiq Ahmed, Sadaif Mehdi, Ayatullah

Balochistan

Azhar Ali (capt.), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Junaid Khan, Umar Akmal, Usama Mir, Bilawal Bhatti, Shahid Yousuf, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Ramiz Raja Jr., Mohammad Hassan, Awais Zia, Imran Khan

Federal Capital

Misbah-ul-Haq (capt.), Kamran Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Imran Khalid, Mohammad Sami, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Asif Zakir, Hassan Ali, Zafar Gohar, Hammad Azam, Sarmad Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Arsal Sheikh

Our readers are at the heart of everything we do.
Do you have a thought to share or a way we can improve? We’d love to hear it. Reach out to us at feedback@dawn.com.

Sport

Wasim Akram using IPL stint to hunt for new Pakistan coach

Dhoni in the time of Virat Kohli

‘Sarfraz must be given time to settle as a leader’: Waqar Younis

abdul rahim

Apr 12, 2016 09:31pm

Strange,despite reservations shown by ex coach n manager Umer akmal and Ahmed Shezad are in but not Shahid Afridi.

Recommend 0

Arslan

Apr 12, 2016 09:31pm

I think the captain's have made it clear that Afridi is no longer desired. He should bow out of international cricket respectfully.

Recommend 0

Shazad

Apr 12, 2016 09:39pm

No name of coaches ... so, who are the coaches of these 5 teams?

Recommend 0

Apr 12, 2016 10:26pm

My god that list of five teams has nearly 80 players and almost 70 of them have played for Pakistan. Lol ,.. just crazy !

Recommend 0

Rizwan haider

Apr 12, 2016 10:31pm

Does anybody know what has happend to Harris Sohail? Since he saw a ghost he has vanished!!

Recommend 0

Shahid

Apr 12, 2016 10:37pm

Mostly the tried and discarded players. If it was to be so then why not Mohammad Asif and Afridi, both Pakistan stars. One wonders where are top performers of last cool and cool one day cup, Usman Salahuddin and Abdul Rehman Muzamil? We all remember Muzamil scoring two hundreds in 5 matches and his over all SR was above 100 and batting average was 65.

Recommend 0

The Outsider

Apr 12, 2016 11:15pm

I like the Sarfraz Sind team best. I also like Sarfraz and wish him all the best luck as captain. Nothing beats passion and energy and Sarfraz has that.

Recommend 0

arif Wajid

Apr 13, 2016 01:04am

Shahid Afridi not picked up reason is that he may influence other players which can disturb team combination and more importantly captain. Good thing i believe.

Recommend 0

bilal

Apr 13, 2016 01:20am

@abdul rahim afridi has retired from the 50 over format hence there was no reason to pick him !

Recommend 0

Indian oppressed Kashmiri

Apr 13, 2016 02:02am

Why are Misbah and Younis Khan captaining one day teams when they have both retired from that format? Why are we not grooming younger captains? Asad Shafiq and Sami Aslam should have have captained instead of these two.

Recommend 0

A Khan

Apr 13, 2016 06:18am

Where is Umer Gul?.

Recommend 0

Hammad Haider

Apr 13, 2016 08:47am

Shahid Afridi is of to perform Umrah and he had made himself unavailable for this tournament.

Recommend 0

Fareeha

Apr 13, 2016 11:46am

Raza Ali Dar from Lahore should have been in the list . He is an excellent player . And fully qualifies and deserves to be in the list.

Recommend 0

Bozdar

Apr 13, 2016 12:43pm

No Haris Sohail No yasir Shah, No Sadaf Hussain, What a Joke

Recommend 0

Waseem Sarwar

Apr 13, 2016 01:52pm

@Rizwan haider , Haris Sohail is injured and recently had a knee operation. He is very much in the minds of selectors. He is a fantastic all rounder who can play in middle order for Pakistan for a next decade.

Recommend 0

Waseem Sarwar

Apr 13, 2016 01:53pm

@Bozdar , Haris is injured. Yasir Shah is playing for KPK if you see the players list while Sadaf Hussain is indeed a big miss. He has fantastic record in domestic and surely, deserve a chance to play in high profile tournament.

Recommend 0

Mirza

Apr 13, 2016 03:02pm

Makes no sense to have Misbah and Yunus as captains for 50 over format when they are no longer involved with Pakistan team. Should have been appointed someone young with a view to gauge captaincy skills for the future, Shoaib Maik is useless and he makes the team for every event.

Recommend 0

Abrar-ul-Haque, USA

Apr 13, 2016 03:17pm

I am glad to see Yasir Shah back. Wish him an excellent come back.

Recommend 0

jawad nasir

Apr 13, 2016 03:25pm

Ahmed Jamal looks the most promising upcoming genuine fast bowler but somehow he is always ignored !!

Recommend 0

Ram Lakhani

Apr 13, 2016 05:51pm

Team Misbah will WIN! Mark my words. InShaAllah.

Recommend 0

RIZ

Apr 13, 2016 06:59pm

Don't know why Sadaf Hussain is keep getting ignored and what happened to those players who attended training camps under Wasim Akram and other geniuses if they are not good enough what was the point of spending money on them. If we will keep seeing failures again and again no matter who will be the coach team performance won't improve.

Recommend 0

Omar

Apr 14, 2016 05:20am

Waste to time tournament with aged stars like Misbah and Younis along with discarded and perpetually bad performing players are in this league. Please discard anyone over 30 as they are here only for a check and not good to begin with.

Recommend 0

Shazad

Apr 14, 2016 11:06am

I think Sadaf Hussain can be considered better bowler than M Amir, as record speaks lauder than propaganda. I am really surprised why Sadaf was ignored when he should be part of Pakistan national team in all format. Here are figures of Sadaf to justify his place in national team. Sadaf: FC 283 wkts @ 18.46 runs per wicket. ER: 2.96 ... SR: 37.3 ... Best figure in innings: 9 for 37. Best figure in match: 15 for 154. List A (50 overs): 77 wkts @17.63 runs per wicket. ER: 4.69 and SR: 22.5. Best figure 5 for 27 Compare that with M Amir figures (considering his figures as standard for all format): FC 136 wkts @ 20.7 runs per wicket. ER: 3.03 ... SR: 40.9 ... Best figure in innings: 7 for 61. Best figure in match: 10 for 97. List A (50 overs): 55 wkts @22.81 runs per wicket. ER: 4.33 and SR: 31.5. Best figure 4 for 28 One can see that Sadaf figures are better than Amir in FC as well as List A. In both format, his average is below 20 runs per wkts, better than any bowler.

Recommend 0

Shamim

Apr 14, 2016 11:57am

Umar Amin, the stylish left hander should have picked up for this cup and also the Nauman Anwar, hard hitting batsman.

Recommend 0