LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is likely to spend a lavish amount of Rs 05 to 10 million by filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), in Lausanne, Switzerland, against the reduction of controversial batsman Umar Akmal’s ban for breaching the PCB Anti-Corruption Code. A foreign legal firm is likely to be hired to present the PCB’s case. It remains to be seen how Akmal will respond to the board’s latest step. The right-handed batsman was provisionally suspended on February 20, 2020, just before the beginning of Pakistan Super League (PSL) Season V. Akmal was eventually banned for three years, from all cricket, by Chairman of the Disciplinary Panel Justice (r) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan, in April this year — after he was charged for two breaches of Article 2.4.4 of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code in two unrelated incidents. After Akmal filed an appeal, his ban was reduced to 18 months by an independent adjudicator. Former Supreme Court judge Justice (r) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, in his capacity as an independent adjudicator, gave his decision on Akmal’s appeal after listening to the arguments of both sides. The independent adjudicator reduced the ban to 18 months. Now the PCB is also challenging the reduction in the ban. According to media reports, the PCB currently has the services of nine retired judges as independent adjudicators. Out of the nine, eight are retired High Court judges, while one is a retired Supreme Court judge. They get Rs.200,000 for every case and both parties pay Rs.100,000 each to the adjudicator in case of an appeal.