PCB will review players'' penalties: Ijaz Butt

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PCB will review players'' penalties: Ijaz Butt

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board''s (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt announced on Monday to review fines and bans imposed on seven top players after receiving a report from arbitrator Justice retired Irfan Qadir.

PCB chief operating officer Wasim Bari presented an investigation report on national team�s performance on the tour of Australia to the Senate�s standing committee which met here on Monday.

"The committee meeting was very constructive and we assured them on reviewing the penalties on the players but after getting the arbitrator''s report," PCB chairman Ijaz Butt told reporters.

Former captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were banned indefinitely on charges of "infighting which resulted in a negative influence on the team."

Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul Hasan were banned for a year and fined two million rupees (24,000 dollars) each for disciplinary breaches.

Pakistan''s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal were fined three million rupees (35,000 dollars) each and placed on probation for six months.

Umar Akmal was fined two million rupees.

The penalties came after an evaluation committee investigated Pakistan''s tours of the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and Australia between November 2009 to February this year.

Pakistan lost all three Tests, five one-day and a Twenty20 in Australia, prompting the PCB to investigate the defeats.

Yousuf retired from cricket in protest, but the other players lodged appeals with the PCB-appointed tribunal.

Butt reiterated his stance on match-fixing, insisting there had been no wrongdoing despite allegations over Pakistan''s defeat in January''s Sydney Test.

[Mohammad Sajid]

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