DAWN.COM

Today's Paper | May 02, 2024

Published 22 Feb, 2017 06:16pm

PSL fixing scandal: Sharjeel claims innocence, says 'truth will come out soon'

Suspended opening batsman Sharjeel Khan on Wednesday said he "did nothing wrong or anything that would malign his country", DawnNews reported.

"The truth will come out soon," he said in a brief media talk, adding that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has asked him to refrain from talking to the media.

PCB had sent Khan and Khalid Latif back home following their alleged involvement in spot fixing during the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) in United Arab Emirates.

According to media reports, Sharjeel and Khalid Latif both deny the match fixing charges but admit to meeting the alleged fixer on the recommendation of a former Pakistani Test player.

They are expected to admit to negligence on their part for not informing PCB regarding the man's offer.

The suspended players are further expected to hand in their written replies to PCB's charge-sheet within the next week, DawnNews reported.

According to PCB officials privy to the matter, even if any fixing charges are not proven against the suspended players, they are expected to receive a ban minimum ban of one year for the breach of PCB's Anti-Corruption Code.

PCB handed over charge-sheets to Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the PSL, on February 18.

The charge-sheets were handed over to both the players after recording their statements separately and they are expected to submit their written replies within two weeks of the date.

If both players confess to all the charges levelled against them then the PCB will form a disciplinary committee to decide about the punishment, board officials said.

But if the players deny these charges then a trial court would be set up by the PCB’s Anti-Corruption unit under chair of a former Judge and with representation of one former player to investigate the matter, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan had said.

Shaharyar had said Sharjeel and Khalid will be given one to two weeks to submit their replies against the charge-sheets, after which the board will level formal charges.

PSL authorities in their initial statements on the scandal had claimed that while the investigation against three other cricketers — Mohammad Irfan, Zulfiqar Babar and Shahzaib Hasan — was ongoing, Sharjeel and Khalid were sidelined from the PSL after they had confessed to wrongdoing.

Both were suspended provisionally by the PCB’s anti-corruption unit, and immediately sent back home.

Read Comments

Pakistan's 'historic' lunar mission to be launched on Friday aboard China lunar probe Next Story