Pakistani cricketer Sharjeel Khan banned for five years over spot fixing

By APD Writer Muhammad Sohail

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 30 (APD) - An anticorruption tribunal of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday banned the country’s top-rated player Sharjeel Khan over the charges of corrupt practices in the game, officials announced in a statement.

Najam Sethi, Chairman of the PCB, said the Khan has been banned for five years with half of the term suspended for his proven connections with bookies for spot fixing, a breach of the sports body’s anti-corruption code.

Since the start of this year when the scandal of spot fixing emerged, the PCB has suspend six cricketers from all forms of cricket and

has banned three of them, while an inquiry is in process against the remaining

three players.

Earlier, the PCB handed down a ban of one-year to the fast bowler Muhammad Irfan for not reporting to the board’s anti-corruption unit when he received an offer from a bookie, While Mohammad Nawaz was punished for six month for his lesser indiscretions of failure to report corrupt approaches.

During the Pakistan Super League being held in United Arab Emirates in February this year, Pakistan’s two players Khan and his companion Khalid Latif were sent back to Pakistan after they were reportedly caught red-handed for meeting with a bookie in the parking lot of the their hotel and later in a restaurant in Dubai.

The 28-year-old blistering opening batsman Khan’s ban will take effect from when he was first suspended, on Feb. 10, 2017.

According to some reports, each of the two players has done a deal with an international syndicate to play according to instruction from bookies for 20 thousand U.S. dollars in each match.

“The anti-corruption tribunal's verdict against Sharjeel Khan is a vindication of our policy of zero tolerance against corrupt practices in the game of cricket. The PCB Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Department deserves great credit for identifying the culprits and nipping the spot-fixing scandal in the bud through their prompt action” said Sethi, vowing to continue to fight all corrupt elements that attempt to tarnish the game both at the domestic and international level.

Under the PCB code, the banned player can appeal rulings before an independent arbitrator within 14 days of the decision.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)