'It's shocking for me as well as family' - Kamran Akmal reacts to brother Umar's three-year ban

PCB, on Monday, banned Umar Akmal from all cricket for three years for not reporting a match-fixing offer to the anti-corruption unit. Akmal, in February, was suspended after breaching the code not once but twice. It was revealed that PCB had charged him for breaches of article 2.4.4 of the PCB anti-corruption code on two separate incidents.

Akmal’s non-reporting of match-fixing offers led to his ban as PCB’s anti-corruption code stated that a player is bound to immediately report such approaches. If a player is found guilty for hiding such offers, he can face a penalty ranging from six months suspension to a lifetime ban. And Akmal, who has been involved in several controversies since the past couple of years, faced a three-year ban by the PCB on 27 April.

While the news of Umar Akmal’s ban started doing rounds across the internet, Umar’s brother– Kamran Akmal– was in conversation with Chandresh Narayanan when he came to know of his brother being slapped with a three-year ban.

Kamran Akmal hopeful of PCB reconsidering their decision

Kamran was shocked to hear the news and raised questions over PCB’s decision to hand a three-year ban to Umar. He also added that it was a shocking piece of news for him as well as ‘Akmal’ family. According to him, Umar has worked hard since the past 4-5 years and PCB should’ve given him a life ban instead of a three-year ban if they had found proper evidence against Umar and felt that the three-year ban will hamper Umar’s career even more.

Kamran Akmal also added that they’ll appeal further and hope that PCB revises its decision and cuts short Umar’s ban. Umar’s career has been marred with controversies at timely intervals. At the start of 2020, he was found misbehaving with a fitness trainer at the NCA. While undergoing a fitness test, Akmal reportedly stripped his clothes and asked the trainer to find body fat. He, fortunately, escaped from any punishment for that incident.

Umar Akmal’s last appearance for the national side was in a T20 International against Sri Lanka at Lahore in October 2019. The wicketkeeper-batsman has donned the coloured jersey for Pakistan in 121 ODIs where he has scored 3194 runs at an average of 34.34 along with two tons and 20 half-centuries.

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