Pakistan cricketer Umar Akmal handed three-year ban for failing to report match-fixing offers

Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years for failing to report match-fixing offers, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Monday.

He had earlier been handed a provisional suspension in February this year.

Umar, who turns 30 in May, last month withdrew a challenge to the charges.

The batsman’s ban is effective from February 20, when he was provisionally suspended by the board under its anti-corruption code, which states a player must report being approached to fix games.

The decision was announced by a disciplinary committee after a brief hearing of the PCB, which charged the player with two breaches.

“The PCB referred the matter to the chairman of the disciplinary committee after determining that the batsman had not requested a hearing,” said the board.

Asif Mahmood – the PCB’s anti-corruption and security director – said authorities took no “pleasure in seeing a promising international cricketer being declared ineligible” for three years on corruption charges, but defended the ban as necessary.

“I request all professional cricketers to stay away from the menace of corruption and immediately inform relevant authorities as soon as they are approached,” Mahmood added.

Umar was whisked away by his driver without speaking to the media after the sentence was delivered.

The batsman burst onto the scene with a century in his first Test in 2009, but his career has been marred by disciplinary problems, resulting in various bans and fines.

He was arrested in February 2014 after a scuffle with a traffic warden who stopped him for a signal violation.

Umar last represented Pakistan in two Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka in Lahore last year, falling to first ball ducks on both occasions.

He has so far played 16 Tests, 121 one-day games and 84 Twenty20s for Pakistan.

Umar’s ban is the latest in a series of match- or spot-fixing punishments meted out to Pakistan players.

In 2000, former captain Salim Malik was banned for life and six other players – including greats such as Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis – were fined after a judicial inquiry on fixing.

A decade later then-Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned for five years in a spot-fixing case over an incident during the team’s tour of England.

The Pakistan Super League’s second edition in 2017 was also marred by a fixing scandal, resulting in a five-year ban on Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif.

Umar was also barred from playing for his franchise Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League, and was charged for failing to disclose corrupt approaches to the PCB Vigilance and Security Department.

He was issued a charge sheet on March 17 and was given time to respond until March 31. This was a breach under 2.4.4 for PCB’s anti-corruption code. He then decided against challenging the show cause notice issued to him.

According to the Anti-Corruption Code Article 6.2, the range of permissible period of ineligibility for those charged and found guilty for a violation of Article 2.4.4 is a minimum of six months and a maximum of a lifetime.

The 29-year-old has a troubled history with the PCB management in the past. He was reprimanded and cleared in February, just before the PSL, for allegedly misbehaving with a trainer during a fitness test in Lahore.

Umar also faced disciplinary action when clashed with former head coach Mickey Arthur in Lahore during a practice session and accused him of using abusive language.He was also sent back from the 2017 Champions Trophy in England after failing a fitness test. Umar, at the time, had claimed that Arthur didn’t want him in the team.

Current bowling coach Waqar Younis had also, in a much publicised confidential report which was leaked out, advised the board to drop Umar from the Pakistan team and send him to play domestic cricket for at least a year to gain cricketing discipline.

(With AFP inputs)