LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s anti-corruption tribunal will announce its short verdict against batsman Khalid Latif in the spot-fixing case here on Wednesday.

A PCB official has confirmed that the tribunal had issued the order about announcement of the decision.

Sources told Dawn that the tribunal is likely to announce strict punishment for 31-year-old Khalid because he is being considered as one of the main culprits in the case by the Board’s anti-corruption department.

The right-handed top-order batsman is facing six charges including that of persuading three other cricketers — Mohammad Irfan, Shahzaib Hasan and Sharjeel Khan — to get involved in spot-fixing, which surfaced on the opening day of the second Pakistan Super League (PSL) T20 tournament held in Dubai earlier this year with the final staged in Lahore.

“Khalid is facing six charges, which is the maximum in number when compared with three other cricketers named in the case. Therefore, [it is likely that] there will be no leniency for him and he will also be fined besides being banned for seven, eight years,” foresees a PCB official.

“Sharjeel was not fined but the case of Khalid is totally different as he is facing six charges, including that of persuading other cricketers to engage in spot-fixing,” the official underlined.

Sharjeel was the first cricketer in the spot-fixing case, who was banned for five years last month. However, after the suspension period of two and a half years and with the addition of seventh months, which the left-handed opener had already passed as a result of the case proceedings, the remaining period of his punishment was reduced to just one year and 11 months when it was announced last month.

Meanwhile, the case against Nasir Jamshed before the PCB tribunal is yet to start because he is also being investigated by England’s National Crime Agency in London in the same case.

Nasir, considered as the main culprit in the case, allegedly persuaded Khalid to be his partner in the spot-fixing practice.

It is believed that Khalid was made partner because he was representing Islamabad United in the PSL, and therefore could easily access other players, while Nasir was not playing for any team of the league.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017