Retired judge to hear players’ appeals

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Governing Board (GB) has accredited all the six appeals and has decided to forward them to the former High Court judge, Irfan Qadir, who will be dealing with the entire set of petitions made by the six Pakistan players. “All the six petitions had been referred to the PCB Governing Board, who has selected Justice (retired) Irfan Qadir out of the three names announced by the Cricket Board,” PCB legal advisor, Tafazzul Riazvi told The Express Tribune.

The PCB had already clarified that all those players, who where were banned or fined after the disastrous tour of Australia, will be dealt according to the PCB’s constitution. “To avoid conflicting judgments, all the petitions shall be referred to one arbitrator, selected by the GB, from among the panel of independent arbitrators maintained by the PCB,” said Rizvi. “It is up to the GB to select one arbitrator or more than one.” “Now the PCB will forward all the concerned documents to the arbitrator, who then will decide when and where the appeals will be heard and he will be facilitated by my senior, Talib Rizvi,” added Rizvi.

Former captains Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were banned for an indefinite period for “infighting which let the team down” while Shoaib Malik and all-rounder Rana Naved ulHasan were both banned for one year and fined two million rupees each ($24,000). Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi was fined three million rupees for ball-tampering in a one-day match against Australia in February, while brothers Kamran and Umar Akmal were also heavily fined. Yousuf ended up retiring in protest but the six other players have all appealed. The PCB penalties came after an evaluation committee investigated the team’s dismal performance during their tour of Australia.