A repentant Salman Butt, to the entire nation apologized on Friday and admitted the fact that he was wrong not to alert the authorities earlier after returning home from England; subsequent to having served seven months in jail for spot-fixing.

However, he still attempted to maintain his innocence; the ex-Pakistani Test Captain was actually sentenced to 30 months in prison for his involvement with the match fixing scandal of the tour of England in 2010.

He was one of the three Pakistani players entangled in the scandal, with the other two being Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir; were sentenced to five year bans on playing by the International Cricket Council and as well as various jail terms.

But after having arrived in Pakistan on Friday, the former Test Captain told the media at the Lahore airport that he hoped to salvage his playing career.

Butt stated,”My biggest mistake was not to report the advances made to me by my British agent. But he was a friend as well and I hoped he would realize his mistake. I hoped he [Mazhar] would back off in the two-to-three-month period when he made the offers. That was my mistake and I should have told the authorities immediately but I have paid a big price for it and served time behind bars. I also apologize to the people of Pakistan, all the cricketers, those who support us and make us stars, I apologize – but for failure to report."

Nonetheless, Butt still maintained that he had never took part in any form of match fixing throughout his entire career and would decide his future course of actions AFTER consulting his legal team.

He further added, "I have never accepted any offer and nothing ever practically happened in a match linked to any offer to do spot-fixing and I also never asked anyone else to do this," he added. "I want to return as a better and good person, a good cricketer and a good Pakistani."