Umar Akmal‘s troubled cricket career has hit its biggest roadblock yet, with the PCB handing him a ban from all representative cricket for three years after he pleaded guilty to failing to report details of corrupt approaches made to him ahead of this year’s PSL.
Akmal’s case had gone directly to the PCB disciplinary panel after he opted to forego the right to a hearing before the anti-corruption tribunal, where he could have pleaded his innocence and contested the charges. His decision not to do that meant, in effect, that he would accept whatever sanctions Justice Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan, the disciplinary committee chairman, imposed on him.
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The PCB had formally charged Akmal with two breaches of its anti-corruption code for two unrelated incidents on March 20. The charges come under Article 2.4.4, which deals with: “Failing to disclose to the PCB Vigilance and Security Department (without unnecessary delay) full details of any approaches or invitations received by the Participant to engage in Corrupt Conduct under this Anti-Corruption Code”.
The ban will come as a huge setback for the 29-year-old Akmal, who has had a number of brushes with the authorities over the years since his Pakistan debut in 2009. He has been fined and banned for misconduct and failure to keep himself fit multiple times throughout his career, and recently copped a three-month ban for publicly criticising then Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur. Earlier this year, he was reprimanded by the PCB for misbehaving with a trainer after failing a fitness test, reportedly exposing himself to the trainer in frustration at one point.
More to follow…