Lahore :Pakistani cricketer Umar Akmal has filed an appeal against the three-year ban imposed on him, seeking a reduction in the duration of the sanction. Akmal was banned from all representative cricket on corruption charges by the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Disciplinary Panel.
The cricket governing board has confirmed the receipt of Akmal’s appeal and will form a panel of independent adjudicators to hear the case.
According to the PCB’s code, the panel will not conduct a de novo (fresh) hearing and will limit itself to “a consideration of whether the decision being appealed was erroneous,” ESPNcricinfo reported.
It is understood that Akmal maintained in his appeal that the three-year ban was unprecedented, and that other players committing similar offences had been let off with lesser punishments – Mohammad Irfan was banned for six months(reduced from one year for cooperating with the PCB’s investigation in 2017, while Mohammad Nawaz picked up a two-month ban soon afterwards. In a recent example from outside Pakistan, Shakib Al Hasan – among the senior-most players in Bangladesh cricket – was banned for two years with one year of that sentence suspended.
In the Akmal case, the judge observed that the player had failed to give any plausible explanation for not reporting the matter to the PCB’s vigilance and anti-corruption departments and was in breach of article 2.4.4, and he would be deemed to be engaged in corrupt conduct under the anti-corruption code of the PCB. It was also recorded that Akmal didn’t show any remorse and hadn’t cooperated with investigating authorities.
In other previous cases, players got lesser punishments as a result of admitting to their mistakes and agreeing to the imposed sanctions.