ACB suspends Mohammad Shahzad for one year

Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad will not be allowed to play any form of cricket for a period of one year as the wicket-keeper batsman has been suspended by Afghanistan Cricket Board's (ACB) Discipline Committee for violating ACB's disciplinary rules.

ACB, on Sunday, said that Shahzad breached its Code of Conduct for players repetitively.

"Shahzad has violated ACB's disciplinary rules and regulations previously as well and has not adhered to ACB's Code of Conduct for players. He has travelled out of the country several times violating ACB's policy for players to seek its permission before doing so," ACB said in a statement.

Earlier, on August 10, the board had suspended Shahzad's contract for an indefinite period and said that the Discipline Committee will meet to make a decision. Now after a week, the time period for Shahzad's suspension has been decided by the ACB, which is one year.

Shahzad was ruled out of the World Cup on June 7 due to a knee injury. However, he said that his injury was not severe and it was the board which needed to be blamed for his withdrawal from the team.

However, the cricketing body said that Shahzad was called for questioning by the ACB's Discipline Committee in relation to a disciplinary matter during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 but he did not attend.

"Mohammad Shahzad did not attend meetings scheduled with the Discipline Committee on 20th and 25th of the last month," ACB had earlier stated.