The ‘indefinite ban’ was placed on Younus, and Mohammad Yousuf, by the inquiry committee that was set up by the PCB after the disastrous tour of Australia. Malik and Rana Navedul Hasan were banned for a year and current captain Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, were handed heavy fines.
Irfan Qadir, the arbitrator appointed by the board to hear the six appeals filed by the players – Yousuf remained the only cricketer not to appeal and retired from international cricket in protest – also confirmed the board’s decision to waive off Afridi’s fine while halving the Rs3 million and Rs2 million fine handed out to Kamran and Umar respectively.
Qadir added that Younus’ punishment was automatically relinquished as he was selected in the 35-man squad for the Asia Cup and England tour. While he was omitted from the tour of Sri Lanka due to ‘poor form’, Afridi had earlier made it quite clear that Younus would be part of the team in England.
“According to PCB’s decision, Younus was barred from selection but as soon as he was included in the 35-man squad, I set aside the order against him as it was unfair and the punishment cannot be open ended.”
Younus’ lawyer Ahmed Qayyum, often blamed by the PCB for delaying the outcome of the hearing, was a relieved man.
“I was surprised but satisfied with today’s hearing,” Qayyum told The Express Tribune. “The most important thing was that Younus maintained his stance and principles but more importantly, the arbitrator not only accepted my client’s appeal but also set aside all the respective allegations against him.”
However, PCB’s legal adviser Talib Rizvi said that the matter may not have ended with Qadir’s decision.
“All the players except Younus approached the PCB to tender their apology and chairman Ijaz Butt, in the interest of the nation, decided to soften his stance. Therefore, although Younus has been pardoned by the arbitrator, he’ll still be issued a show-cause notice by the PCB.”
Qadir also confirmed that the board had decided to waive off Afridi’s fine since he had already been punished by the ICC for the ball-biting incident. Ironically, the chairman, had earlier refused calls to punish Afridi citing the same reason but decided to implement the inquiry committee recommendation that stood invalid in light of ICC’s laws.
“The ICC wrote to the PCB saying that Afridi had already been punished so it was unfair to punish him for the same thing again,” said Qadir. “Considering that, and Afridi’s apology, I set aside the order against him. The Akmals were candid in accepting their disciplinary issues. The PCB wanted to halve the fines but I felt all players should now be treated on a par and so brought it down to Rs1 million.”
The only player waiting for a decision now is Naved who is set to learn his fate on June 19. Considering the decision taken in the last few days, and Qadir’s will to treat every individual in the same way, a lifting of the ban and halving of the fine is the likely outcome.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 6th, 2010.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ