Umar Akmal’s Ban Reduced From 3 Years To 1.5 Years

The player says he will file an appeal against the remaining ban and will  try to get it “reduced further”.

LAHORE: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-July 29^th, 2020) Umar Akmal’s three-year ban was reduced by 18 months by Independent adjudicator Justice (retired) Faqir Mohammad Khokhar here on Wednesday.

The batsman attended the hearing in person in Lahore.

Under the reduced ban, Umar Akmal would remain suspended effectively from February 2020 till August 2021.

Akmal said he would appeal again to try and get it “reduced further”.

Earlier, he was banned from all representative cricket in April after he failed to report details of corrupt approaches made to him ahead of this year’s Pakistan Super League. The player accepted that the incidents took place but said that the circumstances were such that they were not merit reporting to the board. Each charge carried a three-year ban which was running concurrently.

He also filed an appeal against the ban in May and questioned the length of the sanction, hoping to get it reduced. He said Mohammad Irfan was banned in 2017 for six months while Mohammad Nawaz was given a two-month ban. He said he was awarded stiffer-than-expected penalty for failing to show sufficient remorse.

“I am grateful to the judge for listening to my lawyers properly,” said Umar Akmal, pointing out that he would decide about the remaining sentence and try to get it reduced further. He said he was not satisfied and would consult his lawyers and family how take this ahead.

“There were many players in the past who made mistakes and and just look at what they got and what I got. So all I say right now is thank you very much,” he added.