Umar Akmal faces ban by PCB over corruption charges
Pakistani middle-order batsman Umar Akmal could face a lifetime suspension if the Pakistan Cricket Board announced a conviction on match-fixing charges Friday.
On February 20, the day Pakistan Super League began in Karachi, the 29-year-old was immediately suspended by the PCB’s anti-corruption committee.
PCB said on two counts Umar breached its code.
“The PCB has charged Umar Akmal with two breaches of the anti-corruption code which relates to not reporting a fixing offer,” said a PCB release.
Under the PCB anti-corruption code a player is expected to report to a team manager or anti-corruption unit officials immediately after receiving an offer to fix a match.
The release adds under the code if a player is found guilty the punishment ranges from a six month suspension to a lifetime ban.
Umar has 14 days (to 31 March) to respond in writing to the charges.
Umar has a history of disciplinary problems, being charged and held in 2014 for a day following a confrontation with a traffic warden.
He was suspended in 2017 after a spat with the then Pakistani head coach Mickey Arthur, for three months.
He also avoided punishment last month after he made offensive remarks to a Lahore fitness trainer.
Umar has played 16 tests, 121 one-day internationals and 84 Twenty20 internationals since his 2009 debut, also described as a talented but undisciplined cricketer.
He last played for Pakistan four months ago in the Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka, failing to score in both games.
Umar’s anti-corruption case is the latest of many that have hit Pakistan cricket in the last 20 years, leading to life bans and penalties on a number of players.
A spot-fixing case hit the PSL in 2017 with openers Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif suspended for five years.
