Banned Pakistan cricketer Sharjeel Khan accepts charges against him eyeing early return to domestic cricket

Banned Pakistan Test batsman Sharjeel Khan has conceded to all the five charges imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Anti-Corruption Tribunal. The reason is that he eyes an early return to domestic cricket. The 29-year-old batsman who has played just one Test, against Australia in Sydney in 2017, is serving a five-year ban, half of which remains suspended, for his role in a spot-fixing scandal in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) the same year.

The cricketer has filed an application with the PCB chairman to allow him to take part in domestic cricket before his ban ends in August this year, his lawyer Shaighan Ejaz said.

“Sharjeel has in his application accepted the ban imposed on him by the tribunal which means that he has accepted the five charges that were laid out against him under the anti-corruption code,” FirstCricket cited reports as quoting Ejaz as saying.

PCB chairman has to get Board of Governors’ approval

“We have asked the PCB chairman to allow Sharjeel to resume playing club and domestic cricket before his ban ends in August. The Chairman has to get approval of the Board of Governors to allow this under a clause of the anti-corruption code.”

In his application, the Hyderabad (Pakistan) cricketer accepted his mistakes. He was accused of breaching five clauses of the anti-corruption code. Sharjeel has also played in 25 ODIs and 15 T20Is since 2013 and scored over 1,200 international runs with one big ODI hundred (152).

The player has also been accused of meeting a suspected bookmaker and agreed to spot-fixing with the same during a game in the second edition of the PSL. The bookmaker named Yousuf Anwar has also been charged by the UK’s National Crime Agency for bribery and corruption and is facing trial in a magisterial court. Another Pakistan Test opener Nasir Jamshed, a resident of the UK, has also been charged by the British agency.

Jamshed was named as a key suspect in the PSL spot-fixing scandal and is suspected of having introduced Sharjeel, Khalid Latif and other players to the bookies, including Yousuf.

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