Salman Butt, former Pakistan opener, has slammed ex-England captain Michael Vaughan for stirring unnecessary debates on social media.
Butt believes that Vaughan’s recent comments on Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson need not be given any attention.
In 2005, Vaughan became the first English skipper to win an Ashes series since Mike Gatting in 1986-87.
Ahead of the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final between New Zealand and India, Vaughan stated that Williamson is a better batsman than Kohli. His comment caused a huge uproar in the social media.
“If Kane Williamson was Indian, he would be the greatest player in the world. But he’s not because you’re not allowed to say that Virat Kohli is not the greatest, because you’d get an absolute pelting on social media. So, you all say Virat is the best purely to get few more clicks and likes, few more numbers following here. Kane Williamson, across formats, is equally the best. I think the way he plays, the calm demeanour, his humbleness, the fact that he is silent about what he does,” Vaughan said in an interview with Spark Sport.
Reacting to his comment, Butt said that Vaughan’s remarks are completely ‘irrelevant’. The 36-year-old further stated that Vaughan likes to say things to stir up debates. He also asserted that the former England batsman had not scored even a single century in One Day Internationals (ODI), whereas Kohli has 70 international centuries to his name.
“Kohli belongs to a country which has a huge population. Obviously, he would have a bigger fanbase. On top of that, his performance is better too. Virat has 70 international tons at the moment, no other batsman from this era has that many.”
“And he has, for a long period, dominated the batting rankings because his performances have been outstanding. So I don’t understand what and where is the need to draw comparisons,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.
“Kohli’s stats and performance and the way he has won India matches, especially chasing, it’s outstanding. Since the time both are playing, no one has been as consistent as Kohli. What Vaughan has said is irrelevant,” he added.
Butt was involved in a spot-fixing scandal on Pakistan’s tour to England in 2010 and was handed a five-year ban.
