Pakistani Cricket Player: Salman Butt

Source(google.com.pk)
Salman Butt Biography

Salman Butt, a Pakistani batsman, was born on October 7, 1984 in Lahore. He opens the batting in both Test and One Day Internationals (ODI). He is a hard working batsman, who does not indulge in many big hits. He is well-known for his wristy strokes and employs superb wristwork to angle the bat and guide the ball into gaps. Being an accumulator, Salman Butt scores most of his runs between backward point and extra cover, and he also has the ability to cut the ball very fine, down to third man.

Salman Butt started his cricketing career by playing for the Pakistan Under-17 national team, and soon progressed to Under-19 level. He secured a place in the Pakistan A squad for the match against England when he was only 16 due to his performance in his first match for Lahore Whites. He made his first international Test appearance in a match against Bangladesh on September 3, 2003 in Multan. He made his presence felt in the Test series against England in 2005 by scoring a century and two half-centuries. As of June 2008 he has played a total of 19 Tests and has scored 1047 runs, his highest score being 122.

On September 22, 2004 Salman Butt made his ODI debut in a match against West Indies in Southampton at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy. His first ODI half-century came in a match against Sri Lanka at the Paktel Cup. On November 13, 2004 in a match against India, Salman Butt inspired Pakistan to victory by scoring an unbeaten 108, despite having to miss seven overs due to cramps. He has played 57 ODIs and has amassed 2154 runs, his highest being 136 as of June 2008.

Salman Butt made his International Twenty20 (IT20) debut against Bangladesh in Nairobi on September 2, 2007 and has played eight IT20 matches as of 2008.

Salman Butt has played a total of 66 First-class and 112 List-A matches, his best being 290 and 136, respectively. He played his first Twenty20 match at the domestic level on April 26, 2005, against Sialkot Stallions, and has played a total of twenty four Twenty20 matches.

Owing to his performances, Salman Butt was included in the Kolkata Knight Riders team at the 2008 Indian Premier League (IPL) and played seven matches for the team, scoring 193 runs at a strike rate of 119.87, his highest being 73 scored against Chennai Super Kings.

Salman Butt