Shoaib slapped with ban of 13 matches, fine Rs.3.4m
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Express bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Thursday was banned for 13 matches and fined Rs 3.4 million by a disciplinary committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board under four charges of misconduct and indiscipline.
This was stated by Shafqat Nagmi, Chief Operating Officer, PCB at a news conference here at Gadaffi stadium which was also attended by Shaoib Akhtar. “ This punishment has already begun and will run simultaneously for twenty-20, one day and test matches” said Nagim adding that the bowler has already completed a ban of nine matches, seven played in Twenty 20 World Cup in South Africa and two test matches of Pakistan home series against South Africa.
He said Shoaib was charged for four allegations, leaving the training camp at Karachi and going to England to play a match without seeking permission from PCB, giving statements and criticized PCB on doping issue, conducted a press conference without the permission of PCB while he was sent back from South Africa, and his involvement in an incident which led to hitting the team fellow Muhammad Asif with a bat at a training session in South Africa before the start of the Twnety-20 Cup.
PCB official said Shoaib has been put on probation for two years and if he is again involved in a similar incident of misconduct or indiscipline it could lead to a life ban. “ We have given a fair and through investigation into the matter and decided the case giving some lenient view to the bowler “,he said.
Nagmi said the disciplinary committee upheld the punishment of five matches ban handed over to the bowler by the team manager, Talat Ali Malik when the incident of his spat with Asif took place in South Africa and added another ban of eight matches finding Shoaib guilty on other charges.
“ In case he fails to pay the fine it will be detected from his match fee “,he said. Shoaib’s ban will be completed by the end of the fourth one day of the Pakistan-South Africa series which means that he will be available for the last one day international.
“ It depends on the selection committee to consider him for the selection based on his fitness and performances “,said the PCB official. He said out of 20 points of the Shoaib’s players central contract, the disciplinary committee has decided to detect 9.5 points as a part of the punishment.
Shoaib has been given a time of seven days to appeal against the verdict. A visibly shattered Shoaib obviously not happy with the verdict sought apology from fellow colleague Muhammad Asif and PCB and from the entire nation for his acts which caused a lot of embarrassment to him and the game and the PCB.
‘ I am sorry for what I did, what I did was in the heat of the moment and I regret on my acts, and the past two weeks have been a nightmare for me and I feel really sorry “,he said in a low tone.
He said he wanted to end the matter at this stage and he would not be appealing against the decision. “ I want to stop it here to concentrate on my cricket career which has been rocked with such controversies “,he said. He said his goal is to start afresh and to regain full fitness to come up with full force for the tour of India later this year. Shoaib said he has learnt a lot of lesson from these incidents and he believes that it is time to leave behind all that to concentrate on cricket to serve his country and to be a useful part of the team to play his duel role in his success.
“ Now I want to fully focuss just on cricket and I am confident that there will not be a repeat of any such incident in future as I will be trying to avoid them “,he said. He said he is available for selection and he will be playing a side match before the one day cricket to prove his fitness and if selectors feel that he is fit enough he can play the last one day international against South Africa.
The ban, which dates back to matches that the “Rawalpindi Express” missed last month, is the biggest ever imposed on a cricketer at international level, barring previous life bans imposed for match-fixing. “He has been banned for 13 international matches consecutively — it will start from the first Twenty20 match in South Africa” last month, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said.