'Their own players aren't capable of playing' - Salman Butt lashes out on Apex Cricket Council for over-flow of franchise leagues

Salman Butt, a former captain of Pakistan, has seen exponential growth in franchise-based tournaments in recent years. Recent reports state that the Apex Cricket Council is considering capping the proportion of foreign players in the starting XIs for these leagues.

Butt responded by saying that the apex council should stop approving so many T20 leagues. He said on his YouTube channel: "Countries that don't even have a single team of their own and expatriates complete their teams are bound to conduct leagues filled with overseas players. Their own players aren't capable of playing because they don't meet the required standards. Instead of debating about having a cap on foreign players, the Apex Council should think of not giving leagues to everybody."

According to The Telegraph, an Council working group has advised that in franchise-based leagues, a team's starting XI should not include more than four players. Players who have given up playing international cricket are also included. More than four international players are now permitted in the starting XI of Major League Cricket, Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and International League T20.

‘They should fix tiers for leagues to decide which players will play where’ – Salman Butt

Salman Butt went on to say that the Apex Council has to think about creating several league tiers, arguing that not all competitions ought to have the same standing. Butt emphasised that not all of the players should compete in every league. The man, 38, said: "There should be only a certain number of leagues in a year. They should fix tiers for leagues to decide which players will play where. All the leagues cannot have the same status. Every league should not be for every player."

A proposal that would require boards hosting leagues to pay a 10% release fee to the individual boards of foreign players each season is also being considered by the Apex Cricket Council working group.

Recently, Salman Butt also extended his opinion on Virat Kohli’s removal from captaincy. “Kohli was a successful captain, and the way he was systematically being removed… he himself gave it away. I’ve read many comments claiming that Kohli stepped down from captaincy and wasn’t removed. Listen, brother… they (the board) created the build-up. Didn’t he say in the press conference that there was no communication with me? You can watch the PC if you like,” Butt said.