The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has served a notice to Umar Akmal to appear the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the PCB on Wednesday (27 June) to explain his comment concerning spot-fixing during the 2015 World Cup and more events.
Recently, the wicket-keeper batsman claimed that he was approached by match-fixers during the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the Hong Kong Super Sixes and Pakistan's series against South Africa in the UAE. He claimed that he had been offered $200,000 to “leave two balls alone” in a World Cup match against India in 2015.
Akmal said on a Television show on Samaa TV, “I had got an offer during the World Cup to leave alone two balls and they were willing to pay me $200,000 for that. It was our first match against India in the 2015 World Cup. Similar offers have been made in the past as well; at the Hong Kong Super Sixes tournament (in 2012) and the South Africa series in UAE and before Pakistan's 2015 World Cup group match against India. In the matches with India, I’ve been told to make some excuse and opt out of the game for which I’d be paid but I have told those people that I am committed to Pakistan and to not approach me ever with such offers.”
Update: Notice served to Umar Akmal. He has been asked to appear before PCB Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) on June 27.
— PCB Media (@TheRealPCBMedia) June 24, 2018
Meanwhile, PCB’s anti-corruption unit has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, while the International Cricket Council has also begun an investigation into his explosive claims and wants to speak to him urgently.
ICC said in a statement, “The ICC is aware of a recent interview given by Umar Akmal. Whilst we note that there is no suggestion that any 'fix' actually took place, the ICC is reliant on players to report any corrupt approaches in a timely manner. This is critical to our efforts to gather information on potential 'fixers' and to disrupt and prevent their efforts to corrupt the game. As such we are taking Akmal's comments very seriously.”
Umar Akmal was once recognized a player around whom Pakistan Cricket wanted to revolve around. However, his recent criticisms have left the board with no option but to question him of his ill doing. Umar has played 16 Tests, 116 ODIs and 82 T20Is for Pakistan.
