The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has reduced the ban of Pakistani cricketer Umar Akmal to 12 months. Akmal has also been fined Rs 4.25 million ($27,000) for breaching the Pakistan Cricket Board’s anti-corruption code.
The mercurial batsman was banned by PCB in February 2020 for failing to report details of corrupt approaches made to him just before the start of the fifth Pakistan Super League. He was also pulled from that edition of the PSL on the eve of the start of the tournament.
The PCB’s disciplinary panel last April found Akmal guilty on two charges of separate breaches and handed him a three-year suspension — with the periods of ineligibility to run concurrently. Akmal appealed to an independent adjudicator, and both Akmal and the PCB took the matter to the CAS.
The PCB has now said that 30-year-old Akmal is now eligible to reintegrate into competitive cricket, subject to paying the fine and also has to go through the rehabilitation program under the cricket board’s anti-corruption code.
“The PCB once again urges and reminds all participants to abide by their duty and promptly report any approaches to the anti-corruption officers and help themselves as well as the anti-corruption unit's effort to eliminate the anathema of fixing,” the PCB said in the statement.
Umar Akmal has played 16 Tests, 121 ODIs, and 84 T20I matches for Pakistan, having made his debut in 2009.
(AP inputs)
