Salman Butt seeks Pakistan return after QAT final heroics

32-year-old hopes the bad days of playing career are over

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt pressed his case for a return to international cricket by scoring a century in each innings to help power his team WAPDA to victory in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy on Thursday.

The 32-year-old was playing in his first major first-class tournament after serving a five-year ban for spot-fixing, which ended in September last year.

Butt scored 125 and 105 not out in the match against Habib Bank. His second hundred helped his team draw the match with 198-3, after a target of 444 to win on the fifth day.

WAPDA won the final on the basis of a first innings lead of 42, their maiden title in the 62-year history of the tournament.

Butt, while talking to the reporters after the match, said that he his hopeful his good show in the final will pave way for his return to the national side.

"I have knocked the door [of international cricket] very hard and hope this will pave my way for return to [the] Pakistan team," Butt told reporters. "I want to keep myself fit and keep my form alive. I am trying my best with the best of my intention.

"I have a wish and always want to be in every squad. I have the capacity, but that is something the selectors have to tell and decide."

Butt accumulated 741 runs with four hundreds in the ten matches of the tournament, which followed his 536 runs at an average of 107 in the National One-Day Cup earlier this year.

The Lahore-born left-hander, who has already represented Pakistan in 33 Tests, 74 ODIs and 24 T20Is, further said that he hopes the bad days of his playing career are over.

"I hope the bad days are over," he said Butt. "I have gone through difficult times, but my wife, my family and friends supported me."