PCB bans Umar Akmal for three years from all cricket

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Disciplinary Committee has banned cricketer Umar Akmal for three years from all forms of cricket on corruption charges.

On a social media website, Twitter PCB announced: “Umar Akmal handed a three-year ban from all cricket by Chairman of the Disciplinary Panel Mr. Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan.”

Umar Akmal handed three-year ban from all cricket by Chairman of the Disciplinary Panel Mr Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan.

— PCB Media (@TheRealPCBMedia) April 27, 2020

According to PCB official, Chairman of the Disciplinary Panel, Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan announced the decision and found that Akmal had violated Article 2.4.4 of the code.

Earlier, Akmal had said that he was offered $200,000 by fixers to leave two deliveries in one of the matches. He also claimed that he was offered money to skip matches against India.

“I was once offered $200,000 for leaving two deliveries. I was also offered to skip matches against India,” he added.

He also said that he was approached during ICC World Cup, including the 2015 edition played in Australia and New Zealand. However, Akmal had failed to mention if he had reported this to the anti-corruption unit or not.

According to ICC anti-corruption code 2.4.4 and 2.4.5, players are bound to report all the corrupt approaches made to them during any event and failure of doing so carry a minimum punishment of five years.

On Feb 2, Akmal was suspended from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and charged with two separate violations of the PCB’s code of conduct. The Right-handed batsman is always in controversies after being part of the Pakistan National Team.