'Disgraced' ex-captain Salman Butt happy over revival of Indo-Pak cricket ties

Lahore, July 19 (ANI): Pakistan's disgraced former captain Salman Butt is delighted that bilateral cricket ties with India will be revived with the limited-overs series in December.

Butt, who is serving a five-year International Cricket Council (ICC) ban for spot-fixing and returned home recently after serving a jail sentence in the United Kingdom, said he was happy to hear that India had invited Pakistan for a one-day and Twenty20 series in December, reports the Daily Times.

"It is indeed good news but given that we are playing a bilateral series after five years efforts should have been made to also have a Test in the series because the significance of a Test match is very different from one-dayers or T20 matches," Butt was quoted as saying.

He said it was now up to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to play their cards right and get a commitment from India to send the team here sometime next year.

"A bilateral series is only possible because the governments support this concept now. But the PCB after sending its team to India should now try to get a commitment from the Indian board for a return tour next year," Butt said.

"We have been deprived of international cricket at home for the last three years and I don't blame the PCB for this. Because it is the government's duty to guarantee security of touring teams and without their assurance no team will come to Pakistan including India," he added. (ANI)