The 29-year-old Asif was released from a British prison last week after serving half of his one-year sentence for his role in the spot-fixing scandal in England in 2010.

Former team-mate Butt and left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir were also jailed on the same charges, but the latter was released in February after three months in jail, while Butt is still serving time.

Asif told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper that a depressed Butt "is anxiously awaiting his release" from prison.

"Salman and I were sharing the same room for three months in the prison and he wished me good luck on the day of my release," he said.

"But he [Salman] is a lonely man and looked very depressed on the day of my release from jail. He has been quite miserable at times and is anxiously awaiting his release," he added.

Asif also revealed that there were no hard feelings between the two of them and that they actually became a lot closer.

"No, there were no ill-feelings between us. In fact, we were like two brothers in the prison," the pacer said.