Pakistan cricketer Sharjeel Khan to challenge appeal dismissal in High Court

LAHORE: Just a day after Sharjeel Khan’s appeal against his five-year ban over spot-fixing was overruled by the Appellate Tribunal, the Pakistan opener’s lawyer Shaigan Ijaz has decided to challenge the decision before a high court.

Sharjeel was the first player to be banned for five years for his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal that marred the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) earlier this year.

However, his half of the ban was suspended by the anti-corruption tribunal of the PCB, based on circumstantial evidence.

The spot-fixing allegations relate to a match between Sharjeel's team Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi in Dubai in February during the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Yesterday, Sharjeel’s appeal, along with PCB's petition to increase the opener’s punishment was rejected by the Tribunal, headed by retired Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar.

Sharjeel's lawyer, in a petition, had earlier requested to curtail the suspension of the banned cricketer, which was handed to Sharjeel by the ACU.

On the other side, the PCB had also submitted a petition to the tribunal, asking to grant a more severe punishment to the cricketer as the current suspension did not justify the breach committed by him.

Disappointed by the tribunal decision against Sharjeel, his lawyer Ijaz pledged to move to the high court to get justice.

“The decision is disappointing and we will definitely go to the high court after knowing on what grounds our appeal was rejected. The PCB has not been able to prove the spot-fixing and that has halted a promising career,” the Dawn quoted Ijaz, as saying.

On March 6, a three-member tribunal was formed by the PCB to investigate the spot-fixing case allegedly involving Sharjeel and Khalid Latif.

Sharjeel and Latif are facing charges for a number of breaches of the anti-corruption code of the PCB while playing for their respective teams in the second edition of the PSL.

Other players involved in the spot-fixing case were Shahzaib Hasan, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Nawaz and they all are provisionally suspended by the PCB.