Akmal under code investigation

THE Pakistan Cricket Board has suspended batsman Umar Akmal under its anti-corruption code.

The PCB did not reveal the exact nature of Akmal’s offence, but said in a statement that “the batsman cannot take part in any cricket-related activity pending the investigation being carried out by the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Unit”.

The suspension means Akmal will not be able to represent Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League, which started overnight. The PCB said that Quetta could apply for Akmal’s replacement for the fifth edition of the tournament which will be played in its entirety in Pakistan for the first time in four years.

Last week the PCB reprimanded Akmal but did not sanction the batsman for his alleged misbehavior with a staff member after a failed fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

He was also sent back home from England in 2017 when he failed a fitness test before the Champions Trophy which Pakistan won. BANGLADESH pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza will lead the country in the forthcoming three-match one-day international series against Zimbabwe despite uncertainty over his future.

Mashrafe has not represented Bangladesh in any ODI since the ICC World Cup last year, and in January withdrew his name from a lucrative national team contract.

But Bangladesh Cricket Board officials said he would skipper the side despite his apparent lack of commitment.

“At this moment we don’t have a substitute for a captain like Mashrafe,” president Nazmul Hassan said. “If he is not fit, that is another issue.”