Latif banned for five years over spot-fixing

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cricket’s anti-corruption tribunal on Wednesday banned opener Khalid Latif for five years and fined him Rs1 million over a spot-fixing case, the second casualty after teammate Sharjeel Khan was banned late last month.

“Latif is banned for five years and fined one million rupees after the proceedings of the case,” the three-member tribunal announced.The 31-year-old played five One-day Internationals (ODIs) and 13 T20Is, the last of which was against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi in September 2016.

In August, Sharjeel was banned for five years, with two-and-a-half years suspended, for his role in the spot-fixing scandal.Latif had been charged with breaching six clauses, including the serious offense of luring other players to take part in fixing.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) provisionally suspended Latif and Sharjeel after they found evidence of spot-fixing during a Pakistan Super League (PSL) match between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi in Dubai in February.

The board said Sharjeel and Latif met an alleged bookie and struck a deal. Based on the plan, Sharjeel — an aggressive batsman — agreed to play two dot balls after the first over in the match. Although Latif did not play in that game, he was later charged with luring Sharjeel into the deal and not reporting the matter to the PCB anti-corruption unit.

Spot-fixing involves bets on the outcome of a particular passage of play, unlike match-fixing in which there is an attempt to pre-arrange the result of the match.Both players were suspended provisionally at the time and withdrawn from the PSL.

The minimum punishment for the charges which Latif faced was a six-month suspension with a maximum of a life ban.Under the PCB code, players can appeal rulings before an independent arbitrator within 14 days of the decision.

Mohammad Irfan, Shahzaib Hasan, Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Nawaz were also included in the investigation on multiple charges.Irfan and Nawaz admitted not reporting the bookie’s offer. Irfan was banned for one year with six months suspended and fined Rs1 million.

Nawaz was banned for two months, with one suspended, and fined Rs200,000.Both are now free to play, while the cases against Hasan and Jamshed are continuing.

Latif’s lawyer Badre Alam repeatedly raised objections during the proceedings, and also filed a petition in the Lahore high court against the tribunal. But the pleas were rejected by the court.

Alam, who like Latif did not attend the announcement, rejected the verdict. “The short decision proves that the tribunal is not impartial,” Alam told media. “They had made up their mind to punish Latif. We will decide our plans only after the detailed judgement comes,” he said. Latif had shown tremendous promise at an early age but failed to make an impact at the international level.

Having made his first class debut at 15, he led Pakistan to victory at the Junior World Cup in Bangladesh in 2004.But once drafted to the Pakistan side for a one-day match against Zimbabwe in 2008, Latif could not cement his place on the national team.

Last year he appeared to have become a regular player in the Twenty20 squad, having scored a rapid 59 not out against England last year.

When one of the tribunal members was asked by ‘The News’ why Khalid got away with only five years ban and Rs1 million fine, he replied he did not think that was a lenient punishment. “A five-year ban on a 31-year-old player means the end of his career. As tribunal members we have to look at all the aspects. I admit that his offense is serious in nature but we have our limitations. I think what we have decided is honest and practical,” he said.

The Tribunal member said that these were very crucial days for Pakistan cricket. “We know well that for the sake of the game we have to act in accordance with the given mandate and that is what we are doing right now,” he said.

He said that the detailed judgment would be on the official website within the next ten days. “It would appear on the PCB website as we did in the case of Sharjeel Khan.”The PCB lawyer Tafazil Rizvi was not sure whether the Board would go into appeal against the Tribunal verdict. “Once we see the detailed judgment we will be in a better position to tell whether we are going to appeal,” he said. —With input from agencies