Salman Butt

Salman Butt

Pakistan

Full name Salman Butt
Born October 7, 1984, Lahore, Punjab
Current age 22 years 145 days
Major teams Pakistan, Lahore
Playing role Batsman
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak

Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	14	26	0	777	122	29.88	1511	51.42	2	4	109	1	7	0
ODIs	33	33	1	962	108*	30.06	1350	71.25	3	3	124	1	9	0
First-class	56	97	5	3571	206	38.81			9	17			23	0
List A	75	75	5	2898	129*	41.40			9	12			19	0
Twenty20	9	9	0	158	67	17.55	147	107.48	0	1			1	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
Tests	14	24	18	0	-	-	-	4.50	-	0	0	0
ODIs	33	36	42	0	-	-	-	7.00	-	0	0	0
First-class	56	741	493	9	4/82		54.77	3.99	82.33		0	0
List A	75	460	405	9	2/26	2/26	45.00	5.28	51.11	0	0	0
Twenty20	9	96	127	4	2/25	2/25	31.75	7.93	24.00	0	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	Pakistan v Bangladesh at Multan - Sep 3-6, 2003
Last Test	England v Pakistan at Leeds - Aug 4-8, 2006
ODI debut	Pakistan v West Indies at Southampton - Sep 22, 2004
Last ODI	Scotland v Pakistan at Edinburgh - Jun 27, 2006
First-class span	2000/01 - 2006/07
List A span	2000/01 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2004/05 - 2006/07

Profile

Because he is left-handed and possessed of some supple wrists, it is easy to compare Salman Butt with the delightful Saeed Anwar. His drives and cuts through the arc between extra cover and backward point are inevitably flicked, often scooped and it is a high-scoring region. He doesn't mind pulling either and off his toes, he is efficient rather than whippy as Anwar was. Further, like Anwar, Butt's footwork doesn't really hold him back. But in attitude and temperament Butt is more Anwar's long-time partner, Aamir Sohail. He has a confident air about him, a spikiness and is one of the few younger players confident when speaking English. His breakthrough period was the winter of 2004, where he first scored an ODI century against India at Eden Gardens and then went further by scoring a fifty and a maiden Test century in Sydney later in the year. For most of 2005, he failed to build on that and despite another ODI century, also against India, doubts about his defensive technique and overt dash crept in, resulting in him dropping in and out of the team. But against England to end the year, he responded to criticism by unveiling a startling restraint and change of tempo, hitting a century and two fifties in the Tests, each innings commendably restrained. He had made impressive strides at age-level matches before making his Test debut against Bangladesh in 2003-04, playing in the Under-19 World Cup and touring South Africa with Pakistan's Academy team, smashing 233 against the South African Academy side. His strokeplay has never been in doubt and he is capable of providing electrifying starts when needed but with the tightening of his defense, Butt could be one half of the opening conundrum that has so haunted Pakistan since...well, Anwar and Sohail left the scene.