Asif and Butt allowed to play domestic cricket after rehab

While Amir is already playing in the BPL, Asif and Butt might play early next year

Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt, who had received a five year ban from the ICC for their alleged involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, are set to play competitive domestic cricket early next year.

ICC had lifted the bans it had imposed on Asif and Butt in September, but the PCB were in no hurry to bring them back, and instead waited for their rehab program to get over, which ends in February next year, before allowing them to play again.

"We have decided to allow them to play the one-day cup starting after the ongoing first-class tournament in January," a PCB spokesman said. "By the end of Quaid-e-Azam trophy (the premier first-class tournament in Pakistan) they would have finished all of their rehab programmes and they will be free to resume their domestic cricket. The [one-day] tournament is slotted in the second week of the January.”

As a part of their rehabilitation program, they had travelled to different parts of the country to make people aware about corruption issues. They had given lectures to players, officials and people in general, about the methods of avoiding corruption.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had made sure to regulate the tainted duo’s return to cricket as tightly as possible. Hence, sufficient rehabilitation programs were put in place, and they were asked to follow it.

It was a welcome move from the PCB, as the image of Cricket in Pakistan as well as globally had been tarnished after the illegitimate affair, and proper steps were needed in order to regain the confidence of the public, as well as to portray the fact that those who erred in the past, had gone through sufficient corrective measures before being allowed to play again.

Unlike the two of them, Mohammad Amir had accepted his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal and is already on his way for a potential spot in the Pakistan Cricket Team, although there are many glitches to that as well. Amir has been competing in the domestic tournaments and is currently playing in the Bangladesh Premier League.

The PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan, and coach Waqar Younis have already expressed their positive opinions about Amir’s inclusion into the National side, but former captain Mohammad Hafeez has expressed his reservations against it.