Former Pakistan captain hits back at Mohammad Shami for taking an indirect dig at Imam ul Haq

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt criticized Indian speedster Mohammed Shami for his comments on the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) selection criteria.

Butt believes Shami indirectly targeted former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, accusing him of nepotism by selecting his nephew Imam-ul-Haq during his tenure as chief selector.

Shami, in a podcast with Shubankar Mishra, suggested that Pakistan should stop focusing on India and instead work on improving their team selection for ICC events.

"I don't understand why people find it necessary to target others. Improve your selection, and send a good team, they can do it, the talent is there. Do one thing, make it a family team if you want to run the team based on personal relations" said Shami.

Butt responded, stating that Shami's remarks were uncalled for and unfair. He emphasized that Imam was selected based on his performance and was also dropped when he underperformed.

"Pakistan should not pick teams based on relations and friendships. Mohammed Shami's comments were targeted towards Inzamam-ul-Haq. He targeted Inzamam by speaking about Pakistan picking their team based on personal relations, and I think this is wrong. This is wrong because if you look at Imam's record, he came into the Pakistan team on the basis of his performance. He was also dropped when he failed. Shami's remarks were below the belt and he shouldn't have said such things" said Butt on his YouTube channel.

The Pakistan team, led by Babar Azam, had a disappointing performance in the T20 World Cup 2024, failing to qualify for the Super 8 stage of the tournament.