LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)-appointed independent adjudicator and retired Supreme Court judge Faqir Muhammad Khokhar reserved order on Umar Akmal’s appeal in the spot-fixing case after hearing arguments of both parties on Monday.

The Pakistan team discard had appealed against the three-year ban from all types of cricket imposed on April 27 by PCB’s Disciplinary Panel chairman retired Justice Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan.

The PCB anti-corruption unit had received reports about Umar’s two meetings with suspected people hours before start of the fifth Pakistan Super League in Karachi on Feb 20. But the cricketer failed to inform immediately to the cricket board — a mandatory requirement under Code of Conducts of the PCB Anti-corruption unit — while breaching Article 2.4.4. of the said code for two separate incidents.

Upon receiving the reports of Umar’s alleged meetings, the PCB decided to suspend him from playing for his franchise Quetta Gladiators.

Since Umar — the youngest brother of former Pakistan wicket-keepers Kamran and Adnan Akmal — was banned, several former Test cricketers had claimed the three-year sentence was too harsh.

On his part Umar did not contest his case before Justice Fazle-e-Miran Chauhan and failed to justify his position when the ban was imposed. But this time the disgruntled batsman has hired the services of noted lawyer Babar Awan in a bid to a lesser punishment.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020