LAHORE, Sept 14: Pakistan will be within its rights to announce a late replacement for Inzamam-ul-Haq for the forthcoming Champions Trophy in case he is penalized by the ICC for bringing the game into disrepute and ball tampering at the Oval Test, PCB Director Cricket Operations, Saleem Altaf said on Monday.

Saleem, talking to Dawn here at the PCB headquarters, said according to the “Participating Nations Agreement (PNA)” of the ICC, a change of player is allowed for reasons other than injury in exceptional cases and Inzamam’s case is indeed an exceptional one.

“That is why the PCB is not worried over this issue,” he said.

The PCB is likely to announce the Pakistan team for the Oct-Nov Champions Trophy in India on Sept 7 while Inzamam’s hearing is likely to be held in the last week of September.

Inzamam is facing charges under ‘ICC Level-III Offence’ category not taking the field for almost three quarters of an hour in the post-tea session on the fourth day of the Oval Test last month in protest against the decision of umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove of imposing five-run penalty on Pakistan team for tampering with the ball.

Under ‘Level-III Offence’ category, Inzamam may be banned for as many as four Test matches or eight ODIs.

The PCB has backed Inzamam on the issue and is hopeful the skipper’s acquittal in the matter.

The senior PCB official added that even if Inzamam was penalised by the ICC, he still had a chance of appearing in the Champions Trophy since he had the right to appeal for a ‘change of status’ of the ban — in this case altering a ban of eight One- dayers to four Test matches.

Saleem also said that the PCB was still awaiting a response from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) on PCB’s offer to delay their forthcoming tour of Pakistan in order to accommodate a 20/20 fixture against South Africa at home on Nov 10.

He said that it would only be after receiving a final reply from the WICB that the PCB would take steps to prepare a new schedule of the matches.