Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for failing to report corrupt approaches ahead of this year’s Pakistan Super League (PSL).

The Pakistan batsman had been charged with two breaches of the PCB’s anti-corruption code and faced a ban ranging from six months to life.

During his hearing on Monday, Akmal, who represented himself, accepted the two charges the PCB had leveled against him, but insisted that the approaches did not warrant him reporting it to the board.

Taffazul Rizvi, the lawyer who represented the PCB, said that Akmal’s attitude was that of “heads-I-win-tails-you-lose”.

“The PCB doesn’t take any pleasure in seeing a promising international cricketer being declared ineligible for three years on corruption charges, but this is once again a timely reminder to all who think they can get away by breaching the anti-corruption code,” Lt Col Asif Mahmood, the PCB’s director of anti-corruption and security, was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“The anti-corruption unit regularly holds education seminars and refresher courses at all levels to remind all professional cricketers of their obligations and responsibilities. And even then, if some cricketers decide to take the Code into their own hands, this is how things will pan out.”

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