Salman Butt hits out at ‘Cricket Experts’ for obsession with strike rate

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has criticised cricket experts for advising batsmen to improve their strike rate in Test cricket after an embarrassing 2-0 Test series defeat to Bangladesh on Tuesday.

The Shan Masood-led team had been under heavy criticism since losing the first Test match and the cover-up of the series only added to their problems.

Many experts, including former batsman Salman Butt, came out strongly against the team’s performance. However, the former Pakistan captain criticized those experts who asked Pakistani batsmen to improve their strike rate in Test cricket.

“The strike rate mafia and intent mafia are cricket illiterates. They have no idea about the format they are talking about,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.

“You lose in four days and come back, what are you going to do by playing fast? You’ve only played 46 overs. What’s your hurry? Why don’t you understand that your job is to bat long?” Do the greats of the game enjoy highlights? Do the likes of Joe Root, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma score runs like this?” he asked.

Pakistan hit rock bottom after slipping to eighth position in the latest ICC Test rankings, their lowest since 1965.

In the opening Test match of the series, Pakistan had their backs to the wall as Bangladesh played a much more aggressive brand of cricket.

Pakistan struggled to understand the nature of the surface on offer and succumbed to a 10-wicket defeat. They suffered a six-wicket loss in the second match, scripting a historic whitewash for Bangladesh.

The impact of the result changed the entire outlook for the ICC World Test Championship standings. With a 2-0 series win, Bangladesh leapfrogged England to fourth place with a points percentage of 45.83.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have slipped to eighth position in the ICC World Test Championship rankings with two wins in seven matches.

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