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Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal will not play the first Twenty20 International against New Zealand on Friday after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) handed him a one-match ban.
Akmal was banned after he failed to follow proper clothing guidelines while representing Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) against United Bank Limited in the Quaid-e-Azam final earlier this week.
Department teams like SNGPL are only allowed one logo on their clothing, which has to be approved by the PCB. However, Akmal allegedly had a different logo during the match. Akmal was subsequently ruled to have committed a Level 1 offence on the PCB’s code of conduct, which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during a match”.
“PCB has informed us that Umar Akmal was handed one-match ban by the match referee last week in Karachi for breach of code” Pakistan team manger Intikhab Alam told ESPNcricinfo. “The suspension applies to the next game regardless of whatever the format and level is, and we are not going to play him in first T20 against New Zealand but he will be available for next games.”