PCB bans all-rounder Asif Afridi for two years for corruption

Karachi: Pakistan banned spin-bowling all-rounder Asif Afridi from all cricket for a period of two years on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to two violations of the board’s anti-corruption code.

“Afridi has been handed a two-year period of ineligibility, while he was given a six-month ban for the violation of a second clause,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.

Afridi was initially suspended in September last year over failing to report an approach “to engage in corrupt conduct” during the National Twenty20 tournament.

While announcing the decision, the PCB said it considered Afridi’s request to consider his case compassionately. He claimed he had unintentionally breached the code.

The 36-year-old was part of a squad to face Australia in limited-over matches last year, but did not play in any of them.

Pakistan cricket has a history of match-fixing bans, with a judicial inquiry banning former skipper Salim Malik and seamer Ata-ur-Rehman for life and fining six top cricketers — including Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis — in 2000.

Salman Butt, who was then the team’s skipper, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were banned for five years in a spot-fixing case in England in 2010.

Two years later, leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was banned for life over a spot-fixing case in English country cricket.

In the more recent past, Umar Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Irfan were also banned in various spot-fixing cases.

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