Akmal pays fine, ready for rehab

LAHORE: Umar Akmal has paid Rs4.5 million fine to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and will be now eligible for rehab programme before returning to play competitive cricket.

Umar had appealed that he be allowed to pay the fine in installments, but the Board had rejected the request.

The International Arbitration Court had imposed a fine of Rs4.25 million and a 12-month ban on Umar Akmal for breaching the PCB’s anti-corruption code.

Umar was banned in February last year.

On April 27, 2020, the Chairman Disciplinary Panel had found Umar Akmal guilty on two charges of separate breaches of Article 2.4.4 of the PCB anti-corruption code in two unrelated incidents and handed a three-year suspension with the periods of ineligibility to run concurrently.

Umar, who last played for Pakistan in 2019, was banned for 18 months, which was later reduced to 12 months by Court of Arbitration of Sport.