PCB imposed a 3 years ban on Umar Akmal

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket board (PCB) handed a ban on Umar Akmal of 3 years after he was pleaded guilty of not revealing dubious approaches made to him before the PSL of this year and that may well serve as the final nail to his international career.

In a statement the PCB confirmed that 29-year-old Umar was barred from all official crickets, which means that more or less the troubling international career of the discarded batsman could be over.

The ban on Umar Akmal, though umar is not responding to PCB comment, was called harsh by his elder brother Kamran Akmal, who was another test cricketer, and was obviously appealing against the verdict.

Meanwhile the Board announced that PCB’s legal counsel Taffazul Rizvi was treating Umar equally, saying the player could not protect himself against his allegations.

Since he had opted to forfeit his right to appeal before the anti-corruption tribunal where he may have pleaded his innocence and denied the allegations, Umar had gone before the PCB disciplinary council. His rejection meant he personally acknowledged any penalties levied on him by Justice Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan, the Chairman of the investigative committee.

Two violations of the Anti-Corruption Policy were publicly prosecuted by PCB on 20 March for two unconnected events. The charges are in accordance with Article 2.4.4, “the failure to distribute full detail of any approaches or invitations to participants to engage in a corrupt behavior in accordance with this Anti-Corruption Code to the PCB Vigilance & Security Department (without unnecessary delay). Umar was represented at the hearing and the pcb was represented by Rizvi.

Later, a statement from the PCB confirmed that Akmal was heard “hard” prior to a verdict.

“The PCB takes no delight in seeing a talented international cricketer ruled unacqualified for three years on charges of corruption, but this is once more a timely warning to anyone who feels he can crack the anti-corruption law, says Lt Col Asif Mahmood, PCB’s head of anti-corruption and security.

“The anti-corruption team periodically organizes training sessions and refresher courses at any category to reinforce their duties and commitments to all professionals. And even then, if any cricketers want to take the law into their own hands, it will turn out like that. “Although Umar was never previously disciplined for breach of any anti-corruption laws, he would not have had to face a cynical strategy for the first time. In a 2018 television interview, he said that at the 2015 World Cup he was offered money for spotfixing and that he had even been offered a chance to miss some of the main matches against India. It was uncertain if Umar had told the anti-corruption authorities of these suspected methods, but never before has he faced penalties either from the PCB or the ICC in that respect.

For Umar, whose career has been full of ups and downs, the ban is the greatest setback.   He came out of the tri-month ban in September 2017, for which Pakistan’s head coach Mickey Arthur was widely blamed, and earlier this year PCB was reprimanded for misbehavior after a fitness check failed.

But Umar was still in disagreement given the problems with his consistency as a Batsman. When he appeared to be sidestepped by Mickey, last year, in the first assignment as head coach of Misbah-ul-Haq, he was given an astonishing call-up against Sri Lanka for a home T20I series. After consecutive golden ducks, he was again dropped.