“Wished he had a clear thought of mind when he was match fixing”: When Michael Vaughan gave it back to Salman Butt on his views comparing Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson

Michael Vaughan gave it back to Salman Butt after latter criticized him for comparing Virat Kohli’s batting ability to Kane Williamson’s. 

Former England batter and captain Michael Vaughan has for quite some time now, been quite active on social media. The 47-year-old is known for funny banters with his fellow cricketers back then, and also for expressing views without mincing his words regarding a topic/issue he strongly believes in.

A month before the maiden World Test Championship final last year between India and New Zealand at Southampton, Vaughan had predicted Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson to outscore his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli during the WTC final.

Furthermore, he had also gone on to state that the Kiwi skipper would’ve been the “greatest player” in the world had he been an Indian cricketer.

Pakistan batter Salman Butt, had criticized Vaughan’s aforementioned statement stating that it was not needed to draw comparisons between the two.

“He never scored a single century in ODIs”- Salman Butt on Michael Vaughan

Butt went on to add that someone like a Michael Vaughan, who doesn’t even have an ODI ton to boast of, should refrain from getting into the comparison game.

“Kohli is from a country that has a huge population. So, no doubt, he would have a bigger fan base. 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 had exclaimed in his YouTube channel.

“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. Also, people have a lot of free time to stir up debate on any given topic,” he further added.

Michael Vaughan gave it back to Salman Butt

Not known for someone who’d hold himself back, Vaughan gave it back to Salman Butt by taking a jibe at his 2010 spot-fixing scandal, to exclaim that he wished Butt would have had more clarity of thought while he was match-fixing.

Salman Butt was banned for a total of 5 years on spot-fixing charges in 2010. He marked his return back to the Pakistan Cricket set-up in 2016, but failed to make it to the national side since then.