Salman Butt: “We don’t work with the best match-winning leg-spinners in Pakistan, Usman [Qadir] and Usama Mir, despite their domestic performances”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former captain Salman Butt believes Usman Qadir and Usama Mir are the “best match-winning leg-spinners in Pakistan” and questioned why they are not being given chances to play international cricket.
Currently, Shadab Khan is the first-choice spinner in the squad, but he has not been able to take a wicket at the international level since Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand in April 2024.
In the 2024 T20 World Cup, the 25-year-old from Mianwali went wicketless in four games and didn’t even bowl in Pakistan’s matches against India and Canada.
Due to this, Salman admitted he is “concerned about Pakistan lacking common sense” when it comes to selection matters.
“I am concerned about Pakistan lacking common sense. Shadab had just bowled 4 overs twice in 2024 before the World Cup. We keep calling him a package without defining his role. We don’t work with the best match-winning leg-spinners in Pakistan, Usman [Qadir] and Usama Mir, despite their domestic performances,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan lost to the United States of America and India in the T20 World Cup before rebounding to beat Canada and Ireland.
Despite ending the group stage on a high, the men in green were unable to book their spot in the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
[TS_Poll id=”40″]