Convicted fixer Salman Butt is being considered for a Test recall next month - seven years after his international career appeared to have ended in disgrace.
It is thought that certain influential figures within Pakistan cricket, including chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, are pushing for Butt to be brought back for the three-match series in West Indies in April and May, now he has served his five-year ban for spot fixing.
The former Pakistan captain, now 32, was found to have encouraged team-mates Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to bowl no-balls deliberately during the Lord’s Test against England in August 2010.
He was banned from cricket for five years and given a prison sentence.
Standard Sport understands that while Inzamam is keen to bring back Butt, an opening batsman who scored three centuries and averaged 30 from his 33 Tests before his suspension, others in the team are not as enthusiastic.
It is believed captain Misbah-ul-Haq has doubts about a return for Butt, while coach Mickey Arthur said earlier this month that Pakistan have “enough on our plate without having to worry about Salman Butt or anyone else like that”.
Amir, Asif and Butt, along with a fourth man, Mazher Majeed, were given prison sentences in November 2011. Butt was handed a 30-month jail term but was released in June 2012.
He was banned for five years from cricket in February 2011 but having completed the suspension, Butt has been playing domestic cricket in Pakistan since last year.
In his last first-class game, the final of Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Butt scored a century in each innings.
Pace bowler Amir returned to the international side in January 2016 and played regularly on last summer’s tour of England.
But the return of Butt would arguably be more controversial, as he was captain at the time of the spot-fixing scandal and a strong influence in the Pakistan squad, whereas Amir had only just turned 18 and was relatively new to top-level international sport.
