LAHORE: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has accepted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s request for a virtual hearing, regarding the corruption case of batsman Umar Akmal. According to reports, the hearing is expected to take place in December. Umar’s legal team wanted an open (face-to-face) hearing, but CAS denied their request. Umar is now required to inform the CAS about his availability for a virtual hearing till November 2. Umar was initially banned for three years, over failure to report corrupt approaches, but an independent adjudicator reduced it to 18 months (running concurrently) on grounds of taking a compassionate view. It should be noted that Umar has filed a case for a further reduction of his ban whereas the PCB has appealed for an increase in the same. The 30-year-old has played 16 Tests, 121 ODIs, and 84 T20Is matches, scoring 1,003, 3,194 and 1,690 runs in the three formats respectively.