PCB appoints Salman Butt as vice-captain

In another embarrassing about turn Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday appointed opener Salman Butt as vice-captain to Shoaib Malik till the end of the year. Butt replaced Mohammad Asif who was deputy for the One-day series in Abu Dhabi against Sri Lanka in April. Butt's appointment came after the board's ad-hoc committee met in Bhurban.

PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf justified the appointment of Butt for the remainder of the year saying it was a move aimed at securing the future of Pakistan cricket.

"We have to start planning for the future. We have lacked in this aspect and have never really prepared replacements. Malik and Butt are both young and compliment each other," he said.

Ashraf said Butt was picked because he was more focused on the game and had returned to the team with new enthusiasm.

"Everybody believes he has a long future in the national team and is a safe bet to become a permanent opener in Tests and One-Day Internationals."

The left-handed Butt was dropped from the national squad last year, but he has always been rated very highly by former players, including Javed Miandad. He made a comeback in the recent Abu Dhabi series where he had scores of 34, 74 and 2.

Ashraf said Asif was a team man and had been informed of the decision.

This comes after months of speculation regarding Butt's place in the side. He was even touted as a possible contender for the top job before Shoaib Malik was eventually appointed to that job.

There was a lot of talk from various circles referring to Butt as having a good cricketing brain and how he could complement Shoaib Malik as a future leader. But the cricket world was extremely surprised to learn that for Abu Dhabi series PCB choose to appoint Asif as vice captain citing the reasons that Salman Butt's place in the side was uncertain. It is not quite uncharacteristic of PCB that suddenly after only 3 matches his place in the side has not only become certain for the whole year but he has also been given the chance to lead the side in the captain's absences.

While no wonder Butt might be a good choice but why he was ignored just a few weeks ago has become the new burning question. It is quite obvious the decision makers at PCB haven't learnt anything from the past and they keep on making arbitrary decisions without any accountability and with blatant disregard of the impact of these decisions on the morale of the team.