Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has provisionally suspended Asif Afridi with immediate effect under Article 4.7.1 of the PCB Anti-Corruption Code.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa left-arm spinner has reportedly been charged with two breaches and been given 14 days to respond to them.
Asif had missed most of the ongoing National T20 Cup, and he cannot take part in any cricket-related activity until the conclusion of the case that is currently under the PCB's anti-corruption unit.
He earned a maiden Pakistan call up earlier this year in their white-ball squads for the home series against Australia.
The 35-year-old was rewarded for an impressive performance in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) where he took eight wickets at an economy of 6.52 for Multan Sultans. He was selected in the squad as an injury backup for Mohammad Nawaz and didn’t get to play a game.
Afridi has played just one match in Pakistan’s ongoing National T20 Cup - against Central Punjab on August 31 - and won’t be able to feature in any competitive cricket or related activity till the time he’s cleared of the charges.
According to ESPNcricinfo, while the PCB hasn’t specified the charges, it has said Afridi has been suspended with immediate effect under article 4.7.1 of the board’s constitution giving it power to use it “where it considers that the integrity of the sport could otherwise be seriously undermined".
This isn’t the first time that PCB has faced such cases involving players failing to report corrupt approaches. The likes of Umar Akmal and Mohammad Irfan have been banned for various lengths for similar offenses.
In fact, Nawaz, who was one of the top performers for Pakistan at the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022, was suspended for two months in 2017 for his failure to report a suspect approach. He was also fined 2,00,000 Pakistani rupees with his PCB contract suspended.
“I have made the mistake of reporting with delay the approach that was made to me," Nawaz had said in a statement. “I refused the offer and didn’t do anything ethically wrong."
