LAHORE - Islamabad United coach Dean Jones Wednesday testified at a tribunal hearing spot-fixing charges against Sharjeel Khan, saying two dot balls played by the batsman during a Pakistan Super League (PSL) match were not suspicious from a cricketing perspective.
The allegation relates to a match played between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi held in Dubai in February, in which Sharjeel scored a single off four deliveries including two dots (balls which result in no runs).
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has accused him of agreeing to a spot-fixing plan and of failing to report offers to fix, charges which carry a ban ranging from five years to life if found guilty.
The first of the two balls in question was punched to cover point, while the second was driven to mid-off. A second lawyer familiar with the proceedings confirmed Jones' testimony, which took place via Skype, adding that the former Australia star told the tribunal Sharjeel was naturally weaker on his offside and less likely to score in that zone.
Spot-fixing involves attempting to determine the outcome of a specific part of a match rather than the overall result, and is therefore harder to detect than match-fixing. Bowlers M Irfan and M Nawaz, who also featured in the second edition of the Twenty20 tournament have so far been suspended for failing to report offers to fix. The fate of batsmen Khalid Latif, Nasir Jamshed and Shahzaib Hasan has yet to be decided.
According to his lawyer Shaigan Ijaz, Jones said to the tribunal that the four balls Sharjeel faced in the opening match were played on merit; Islamabad had already scored 14 from the opening over. "Sharjeel played four balls in his innings though only two are contentious but Jones said that all four he played were on merit," Ijaz told the media after the hearing. "Even he confirmed that there were no such concerns about the shot selection.
"Jones also said that since the run-rate was already high in the first over in fact we were ahead of the required rate so there was no point of playing a high-risk shot in the opening two balls of the second over.
"He isn't a layman and not only is he the Islamabad United coach but a respected figure in world cricket. He is also a commentator who has worked throughout the world and seen a lot of cricket and we believe that his opinion does matter." Ijaz is expected to present another witness on Thursday.
Taffazul Rizvi, a lawyer for the PCB, added that Jones said he could not speak to whether any of his players had been approached by bookmakers. "He said that he would be upset if he knows that his players were involved and that players are briefed about fixing through lectures," he said. The PCB argued that he played the dots deliberately as part of a corrupt plan. But Sharjeel has denied involvement in any corrupt activity.