Michael Vaughan and Salman Butt have engaged themselves in a war of words. Both of them have seemed to disagree and are now taking digs at each other. The entire issue started when the former English skipper Michael Vaughan compared New Zealand’s skipper Kane Williamson and India’s skipper Virat Kohli. He had said that Williamson is as good as Kohli and Vaughan had said that if Williamson “was an Indian, he’d be the greatest player in the world”. Reacting to Vaughan’s statement, Butt described Vaughan’s thoughts as “irrelevant” and even questioned th former English skipper’s achievements and performances as an ODI batsman.

 

“Kohli is from a country that has a huge population. So, no doubt, he would have a bigger fanbase. Above all, his performances have been top notch. Currently, no other batsman in the world except Virat has 70 international centuries. He has dominated the batting rankings for a long period because his performances have been outstanding. So, I don’t understand what is the need of drawing comparison,” Butt said this on his YouTube channel sometime ago. “And who has compared the two? Michael Vaughan. He was a fantastic captain for England and was very gracious with the bat. But his output wasn’t on par with the beauty with which he used to bat. He was a good Test batsman but never scored a single century in ODIs. Now, as an opener, if you been the captain and have played 75-odd matches (86 ODIs) and haven’t scored a century, then there is no fun in discussing the records. It’s just that he has a knack of saying things that stir up controversies” this didn’t sit well with Vaughan as he then went on to drag Butt’s dreaded past. “No idea what the headline is… but I seen what Salman has said about me … that’s fine and he is allowed his opinion but I wished he had such a clear thought of mind back in 2010 when he was Match fixing !!!” Vaughan wrote this on a tweet.

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Salman Butt last represented Pakistan in August 2010

Now Salman Butt has hit back at Vaughan for dragging his past. “I don’t want to get into details. I just want to say that he’s picked the topic in the wrong context. There is no justification for a reaction like this. This is very below-average, below-the-belt. If he wants to live in the past and wants to talk about it, he surely can. Constipation is an illness. Things get stuck and they don’t come out that easily. Some people have mental constipation. Their minds are in the past. That doesn’t matter,” said Butt. The former Pakistan batsman felt that Vaughan wasn’t being rational. “We spoke about two great players and there was no need to take it into a different direction. But he has opted to. The year he has mentioned, he can go on. It’s the past and it’s gone. But that doesn’t change the actual fact, which we spoke about. Had he provided some statistical presentation, some logic, some experienced-based observation, it would have been better. We too could have learnt something,” Butt added.

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By Arvind Krishnan

Cricket writer, statistician and analyst. An unorthodox media student, marketing runs in his blood. Sports Marketer and analyst.