Afghan board suspends Shahzad

KABUL: The Afghanistan Cricket Board has suspended Mohammad Shahzad’s contract for an indefinite period due to a breach of the board’s code of conduct.

According to an ACB release, Shahzad did not adhere to a policy that requires players to seek the board’s permission before travelling out of the country. In addition, the ACB said Shahzad had been summoned to meet the board’s disciplinary committee on July 20 and 25, “in relation to a disciplinary matter during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019”, and had failed to show up. The disciplinary committee, the release stated, would meet after the Eid holiday to decide on further sanctions.

ESPNcricinfo understands Shahzad is based in Peshawar, Pakistan, and was recently seen practising there. Last year, the ACB had fined Shahzad and asked him to relocate to Afghanistan permanently or risk having his contract terminated.

Shahzad spent his early years in a refugee camp in Peshawar, but his parents are originally from Nangrahar, Afghanistan. Like many of his Afghanistan team-mates, Shahzad grew up near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; he was also married in Peshawar. A significant number of Afghans, once refugees, now reside in Pakistan, mainly in Peshawar, registered in the country as temporary residents. The suspension is the latest development in a testing phase in Shahzad’s career. In June, he was sent home early from the World Cup in England, ostensibly with a knee injury, but the wicketkeeper-batsman insisted he was fit and claimed he had been unfairly left out.