Four Pakistan players fined for playing in illegal T20 tourney

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has imposed heavy fines of 500,000 rupees each on four players for participating in an illegal T20 tournament in Houston which also featured banned test leg-spinner, Danish Kaneria.
The board announced today that fast bowler Wahab Riaz, allrounder Abdul Razzaq, middle-order batsman Fawad Alam and opening batsmen Nasir Jamshed and Shahzeb Hasan all were fined 500,000 rupees for playing in the Friendship Cup T20 tournament in Houston last month without seeking permission from the board.
Badar Rafi, the director marketing of the board was also reprimanded for making an appearance at the tournament and participating in a photo shoot at the final.

Fawad Alam, Nasir Jamshed and Wahab Riaz are part of the summer training camp being held in Lahore these days.
The PCB apparently acted after being informed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to stop its players from appearing in tournaments in the US which are not sanctioned by the recognized United States cricket body.
The Friendship series was held by a private organizer.

The PCB constituted a three-member committee to look into the participation of these players in a Disapproved Cricket Tournament and it included Director Domestic Cricket, Intikhab Alam, GM Vigilance & Security, Col (Retd.) Azam Khan and Manager International Cricket, Usman Wahla.

The committee after investigating the matter noted that Wahab Riaz, Fawad Alam, Nasir Jamshaid, Abdul Razzaq and Shahzeb Hasan admitted that they had participated in an event that under the ICC Regulations is considered Disapproved Cricket, their contention of not being aware of the NOC requirement was not accepted by the Committee, which recommended that each of them should be fined Rs.500,000.
It said that as Danish Kaneria is serving a life ban and also did not appear at the hearing nor did he respond to notice in writing, the committee referred his case to the Integrity Committee for further suitable action against him.