ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan opener and chairman of the newly-formed PCB cricket committee Mohsin Khan on Monday came out in support of discarded Pakistan opener Salman Butt and said the left-hander should be given a fair chance to make a comeback to the national team due to his fine form and fitness.

Mohsin, when asked about Salman’s prospects of a national team comeback by a leading tv channel on Monday, said the player has served his punishment and is scoring heavily in domestic cricket since his five-year ban was lifted.

‘It is an injustice if one of the players among them is allowed back and the rest are kept away,” said Mohsin in an obvious reference to Mohammad Amir who returned to international cricket a few years back.

Salman, who was banned from playing any form of cricket after his alleged involvement in a spot-fixing scandal in England in 2010 along with team-mates Amir and Mohammad Asif, has been constantly ignored by the national selectors despite showing fine form in domestic cricket.

“Salman is very talented and has served his punishment. If the England episode hadn’t happened, he would have been playing for Pakistan,” said Mohsin.

“He (Salman) was the captain at the U-19 level and has a good cricketing sense and plays sensibly. When our committee has a meeting and this is brought up, I will support Salman’s comeback due to his fine form and fitness,” he said. while speaking to the news channel.Mohsin also advised dashing opener Fakhar Zaman to not to play shots on every ball and learn from Babar Azam who looks to take calculated risks. He said players need to forget T20s now and need to focus on the upcoming ODI series where they would need to show some patience. Moreover, he asked the coaches to step up and come out with sound game plans to ensure victory in the upcoming matches.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2018