LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) anti-corruption tribunal Wednesday handed one-year ban and Rs 1 million fine to cricketer Shahzaib Hasan for his role in spot-fixing during the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) last year in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 27-year old opener, who was charged on three violations of code of PCB anti corruption code, was found guilty on two counts of breaching clause 2.4.4, which deals with a failure to disclose corrupt approaches, and one count of clause 2.4.5, failure to report any incident a player is aware of that will amount to a breach of the anti-corruption code.
Shahzaib, who represented Pakistan in three one-day internationals and 10, T20 matches, is the sixth player, who has been punished in the spot fixing scandal that rocked the PSL last year. Sharjeel Khan was banned for five years, Khalid Latif was also banned for five years, M Irfan for one year, M Nawaz for two months and Nasir Jamshed for one year as the of them got punishments according to their role and involvement in the spot fixing scandal.
He was suspended last year on March 17 and PCB’s anti-corruption unit charged him for violating three clauses of its anti-corruption code: for luring cricketers into the scam, not reporting approaches by the bookies, and hiding information regarding his contacts with the bookies.
Shahzaib was not found guilty of breaching the far more serious clause 2.1.4, which involves ‘directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any participant to breach any of the foregoing provisions of this article 2.1.’ That would have likely led to a significantly longer ban. The third edition of the PSL is currently being staged in the UAE, with two play-offs in Lahore and the final in Karachi on March 25. The PCB took extra measures to stem spot-fixing, with all six teams in this year's league monitored by anti-corruption officers.
Pakistan has a history of fixing, with former captain Salim Malik and Ataur Rehman banned for life in 2000. A spot-fixing case during Pakistan's tour of England in 2010 ended in five-year bans on then Test captain Salman Butt, M Asif and M Aamir. Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is also serving a life ban on charges of spot-fixing during a county match in England in 2009.
Talking to the media after the verdict of the case, PCB's legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi said: “The PCB is taking every step to clean the game of cricket from ill practices and we strongly believe that PCB has dealt the spot-fixing scandal with an iron hand as all of its characters have been given punishments according to their role in it.
Shahzaib was suspended by the PCB on March 18 last year and in the given circumstances, his ban will end in coming three weeks times. “We are waging a war against corrupt practices in cricket and PCB has zero tolerance for any such negative practice,” he added.
When asked that Shahzaib’s ban will be ending, he said: “This does not mean that he would resume his cricket career as soon as possible. His ban may end on March 17, but remember that according to the anti-corruption code, you have to go through a rehabilitation process. The first step towards beginning rehabilitation is the acceptance of guilt. If he does not accept that he was guilty, then his rehabilitation process cannot begin." The tribunal hearing the case against Shahzaib had reserved its verdict on January 31.