Shoaib slapped with $500 fine

The decision to take action against the bowler was made by the Pakistan Cricket Board's Disciplinary Committee headed by Justice Ameer Alam.

Shoaib Akhtar was on Thursday slapped with a fine of $500 and severely reprimanded for "indiscipline and erratic behaviour" but was cleared of nightouts during the recent Sydney Test.

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The decision to take action against the bowler was made by the Pakistan Cricket Board's Disciplinary Committee headed by Justice Ameer Alam.

Shoaib was found guilty on the charge of late departure by six days from Australia while he was declared not guilty on three other charges: nightouts during Sydney Test, giving statements in the media and not reporting to PCB appointed trainer Grant Compton.

"We heard Mr Shoaib Akhtar at length and also went through the record placed before us. We were of the considered opinion that this was a case at the most of indiscipline," Secretary to the Committee and PCB's legal advisor Syed Asghar Haider told PTI.

"It seemed that Shoaib had taken the code of conduct very lightly and had displayed erratic behaviour. We are also of the considered opinion that he should be reprimanded and fined for indiscipline and erratic behaviour to the limit of $ 500," he said.

Asghar Haider clarified that the matter was now closed and Shoaib was available for selection for India tour, provided he passed the fitness test on Saturday.

Shoaib has the right to appeal against the decision, Haider stated.

The speedster has been courting trouble since 1996 when he was fined and dropped from the Toronoto-bound team on the charges of indiscipline. He was fined Rs 50,000 and banned from a One-Day International against Sri Lanka in March 2000.

In December 2002, the International Cricket Council suspended him from one match for throwing a bottle at the spectator enclosure while in March 2003 he was fined 75 per cent of his match fee and banned from two matches for ball tampering in Sri Lanka.