PCB bans Umar Akmal for three years

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday banned Umar Akmal from all forms of the game for three years, two months after initiating an anti-corruption investigation against the batsman.

The PCB had not revealed the specific reasons for initiating the probe against the batsman but had charged him for two breaches of Article 2.4.4 of the Board's Anti-Corruption Code in two unrelated incidents in February this year.

"Umar Akmal handed three-year ban from all cricket by Chairman of the Disciplinary Panel Mr Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan," read a tweet from the offcial handle of PCB media department.

Akmal, 29, was suspended hours before his PSL team Quetta Gladiators was to take on Islamabad in the opening match of the 2020 edition.

He is the younger brother of former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal, who played 53 Tests, 58 T20s, 157 ODIs, and cousin of current captain Babar Azam.

Akmal, who last played for Pakistan in October, has featured in 16 Tests, 121 ODIs and 84 T20s, scoring 1003, 3194 and 1690 runs respectively.

Akmal, who promised a lot after making a hundred in New Zealand on his Test debut, failed to live up to the high expectations that came with some fine performances early in his career.

Constant run-ins with the authorities also marred his stop-start career.

Akmal had also escaped a PCB ban in February for allegedly making crude remarks to a trainer during a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.