World fastest bowler Shoaib Akhtar's five-year ban has been reduced to 18 months by the PCB-appointed appellate tribunal, but he will have to pay a fine of Rs7 million.
"The tribunal has taken the decision to reduce Shoaib's ban with a clear conscience and under no pressure from either the board or anyone else," Justice (Retd) Aftab Farrukh, the head of the three-man tribunal, adding that it was an unanimous decision.
Explaining the tribunal's verdict, Farrukh said: "We also took into consideration the past record of Shoaib and that he had publicly apologised for his behaviour and past deeds. He has promised to reform himself and we have also recommended to the board that he should be given proper counselling."
Another member of the tribunal, Naveed Chaudhry, was pushing for the complete removal of the ban, with the provision of higher fine, but was overruled. "I wanted Shoaib to play but pay a hefty fine of 20 million, but the other two members thought otherwise." The third member, former Test cricketer Haseeb Ashan, did not attend the meeting, but gave his consent over telephone.
The Pakistan board issued the ban after Shoaib, who was not being offered a contract by the PCB, lashed out at domestic tournaments, pitches and the administration in general. He made the comments while on a two-year probation after hitting teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat before the World Twenty20 last year.
"Shoaib feels the 18-month ban is still very harsh and unjustified given the reasons for his being banned. We will either appeal in the High Court or perhaps even before the tribunal," Abid Hasan Minto, Shoaib's legal counsel said. "We have to first go through the full judgment of the tribunal in which it reduced his ban from five years to 18 months and fined him seven million rupees. After this we will decide where to appeal but in principle we have decided to appeal."
While Dr Nasim Ashraf, chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), said that Shoaib was free to appeal in court. "That is his decision to make,"
"The tribunal's verdict has nothing to do with the PCB. I can't overturn the reduced ban on him. The decision made by Justice Aftab Farrukh is final and it can only be challenged in the court."
On the other hand Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Pakistan fast bowler, has criticised the PCB-appointed appellate tribunal for reducing Shoaib Akhtar's five-year ban to 18 months and imposing a fine of Rs7 million (approximately $105,000), instead of scrapping the punishment altogether.
"I call the ban reduction unjust, and it smacks of the partiality of the Pakistan Cricket Board, which is hell bent on not allowing Shoaib to play," Sarfraz said. "Shoaib must challenge the ban reduction in the High Court or Supreme Court."
Sarfraz especially found fault with Justice (retd) Aftab Farrukh, the chairman of the tribunal. "The tribunal head, on record, gave his views on Shoaib, saying he was indisciplined and caused a lot of harm to the team. How can he be partial and how can he give his comments about a person whose appeal he was hearing?"
Referring to tribunal's decision to suspend Shoaib's ban for a month, enabling his participation in the IPL, Sarfraz said: "Government officials were involved in the case and, on their interference, Shoaib was allowed to play in a domestic event in India.
"It sounds strange that a player is allowed to play in India and not for Pakistan. How can you do that? Shoaib has three to four years of cricket left in him and should be used to help build the team."
The PCB, had, on April 1, banned Shoaib from playing cricket, for and in Pakistan, for violating the players' code of conduct by publicly criticising the PCB and various policies. Shoaib appealed against the ban, claiming he was being "victimised." Shoaib's ban took into account that he was already on two years' probation for hitting Mohammad Asif with a bat before the start of the World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007. That offence saw him fined 3.4 million rupees ($52,000 dollars) and banned for 13 matches.