On February 2, Sarfaraz posted a tweet in Urdu which translates to: “If a fixer, who sold Pakistan while on duty, lectures about intentions, then may God only protect.”

The tweet garnered plenty of replies and quote tweets, with many suggesting that it was a riposte towards Salman Butt’s recent comments on his YouTube channel, where the former Pakistan batter had criticised Sarfaraz’s leadership style at Quetta Gladiators in the ongoing PSL 2022.

Pakistan ko on duty beachne wala fixer jub niyat pe bhashan dega phir to Allah he Hafiz hai .#justsying

— Sarfaraz Ahmed (@SarfarazA_54) February 2, 2022

In a video on his YouTube channel titled ‘Sarfaraz’s anger not justified’, posted the same day as the tweet, Butt is heard criticising Sarfaraz’s imposing style of captaincy after their narrow loss to Multan Sultans. Later in the evening, the video was taken down, although snippets are still available on social media.

“Whatever he [Sarfaraz as captain] is doing, it’s not developing a good mindset for anyone,” Butt said. “It’s only criticised: the way he talks, the way he reacts. In fact, he doesn’t talk, he shouts. He doesn’t suggest, he imposes his decisions. Two matches ago, Naseem Shah was requesting Sarfaraz with folded hands to place a fielder. To which Sarfaraz gestured ‘I have to place the fielder’, which means ‘what I have to say, you do’.

“You can’t do that, all the time with everybody. And if you’re so important, then you only give answers. They [Gladiators] lost last year as well [placed last on the table]. The squad must also be picked based on your inputs. Ever since the PSL is on, you have been the captain of this side, without you, nothing would happen. No one’s doing a favour for themselves, not making it easier, only creating difficult questions for himself, for which he won’t have answers himself.

“It’s better if he concentrates on himself and works on his performance. He’s been with Pakistan’s squad as a second wicketkeeper for the last year and a half now, so he needs to look at his own performance. Let the others relax, they will take care of their performances.”

In another video doing the rounds – from Pakistan news channel GNN where he is an expert – Butt is seen criticising Sarfaraz after the narrow loss to Multan Sultans, saying that Sarfaraz appeared panicked during the thrilling last over.

“Pressure was on Multan, but Sarfaraz was looking more panicked,” Butt said. “Whenever the camera panned on him, it was this [puts hand on face]. I don’t understand: neither was he the batsman in this instance, neither there was any captaincy decision to take, nor was he the bowler, neither was he [Mohammad] Rizwan [the opposite skipper] who should have been panicking. Rizwan was smiling and Sarfaraz was sitting tensely. This is the difference.”