Pakistan ban Latif for 5 years over fixing

lahore — Pakistan cricket’s anticorruption tribunal on Wednesday banned opener Khalid Latif for five years and fined him one million rupees ($9,489) over a spot-fixing case, the second casualty after teammate Sharjeel Khan was banned late last month.

“Latif is banned for five years and fined one million rupees after the proceedings of the case,” the three-member tribunal announced.

The 31-year-old has played five one-day internationals and 13 T20Is, the last of which was against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi in September 2016.

In August Sharjeel was banned for five years, with two-and-ahalf years suspended, for his role in the spot-fixing scandal.

Latif had been charged with breaching six clauses, including the serious offense of luring other players to taker part in fixing.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) provisionally suspended Latif and Sharjeel after they found evidence of spot-fixing during a Pakistan Super League (PSL) match between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi in Dubai in February.

The board said Sharjeel and Latif met an alleged bookie and struck a deal. Based on the plan, Sharjeel — an aggressive batsman who scores quickly — agreed to play two dot balls after the first over in the match.

Although Latif did not play in that game, he was later charged with luring Sharjeel into the deal and not reporting the matter to the PCB anti-corruption unit.

Spot-fixing involves bets on the outcome of a particular passage of play, unlike match-fixing in which there is an attempt to prearrange the result of the match. —