Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board on Thursday suspended Umar Akmal with immediate effect. This means Akmal cannot take part in any cricket-related activity until the PCB Anti-corruption Unit (ACU) is investigating him. Akmal is being investigated under Article 4.7.1 of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code. The article in question suggests that before a participant is either charged by the ACU or “there are other exceptional circumstances relevant to a participant […] it shall have the discretion to provisionally suspend the participant pending the Anti-corruption Tribunal?s determination of whether he/she has committed an offence.” A spokesman for the PCB said: “As this is an ongoing investigation, the PCB will not make any further comments.”

Akmal was also investigated by the PCB earlier this month for alleged misconduct. Akmal had exposed himself to a trainer during his fitness test out of frustration and asked him, “Where is the fat?”. The player’s brother, cricketer Kamran Akmal said that Umar had done it out of mischief. The PCB, in a statement said it was “fully aware of the matter and was looking into punishments in the context of bringing the game into disrepute”. The cricket board in its inquiry heard all parties concerned and concluded that the incident happened due to a “misunderstanding”, a press release later issued by the board had said.Quetta Gladiators have replaced Akmal with Anwar Ali in the line-up for the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 following the event’s technical committee’s approval. 32-year-old Ali comes in as a silver category player and has been part of the Quetta Gladiators squad in all previous editions. Ali, who turned out in 22 ODIs and 16 T20Is for Pakistan between 2008 and 2016, has scored a total of 191 runs and taken 23 wickets in the 32 matches he has played in the league so far.