Khalid Latif banned for five years for spot-fixing in Pakistan Super League cricket

Khalid Latif’s five-year ban by Pakistan Cricket Board is a suspended sentence. This means he will not be able to return to cricket until 2022

Pakistan batsman Khalid Latif has been banned for five years for his role in spot-fixing in the 2017 Pakistan Super League T20 cricket championship played on the lines of the Indian Premier league.

Suspended Pakistani cricketer Khalid Latif (L) and his lawyer leave the High Court building in Lahore on April 14, 2017. Pakistan Cricket Board authorities have banned Khalid Latif for five years for his role in spot-fixing in Pakistan Super League. (AFP)

The Pakistan Cricket Board has banned Khalid Latif from all forms of cricket. He played for Islamabad United and was charged with six major breaches under the PCB’s anti-corruption code. Khalid Latif has also been fine a million Pakistani Rupees.

This ban will mean Khalid Latif will not be able to play cricket at least till 2022. He is going to be 32 years old in November and has played five ODIs and 13 T20 internationals for Pakistan.

“Anti Corruption Tribunal has found Khalid Latif guilty of all charges...” the PCB said on its verified Twitter account.

Khalid Latif returns to the pavillion after winning the T20 international cricket match between England and Pakistan at Old Trafford, in Manchester, on September 7, 2016. (AFP/Getty Images)

Fellow Islamabad United player Sharjeel Khan also received a five-year ban last month and both were sent home from the Twenty20 competition in the United Arab Emirates after an investigation by the board’s anti-corruption unit.

At least two other players have been implicated in the scandal, while another, fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, was fined and given a one-year ban in March this year.

Suspended Pakistani cricketer Sharjeel Khan (L) arrives with his lawyer at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to record his statement in Lahore on March 21, 2017. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had provisionally suspended Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Irfan, Shahzaib Hasan and Nasir Jamshed on charges linked to spot-fixing and failure to report approaches by bookmakers during the 2017 Pakistan Super League. (AFP)

Khalid Latif’s lawyer Badr Alam, however, outrightly rejected the verdict and said the tribunal was not authorised to take such a decision.

“We don’t accept this decision and we have already filed a challenge in the Supreme Court against the tribunal,” he said.

Khalid and his lawyer were involved in a continuous run-in with the tribunal since the start of the hearings in April. The player refused to appear in some of the hearings while his lawyer had challenged the formation and authority of the tribunal in the Lahore High Court, which dismissed his objections.

This is not the first time Pakistan cricket has been hit by spot-fixing and match-fixing allegations. In 2010, three players including former Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir were banned for a minimum of five-years by the ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal for spot-fixing on the tour of England.

Test leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is also serving a life ban imposed on him by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for spot-fixing in country matches in 2012.

(With agency inputs)