Akmal suspended for breaching Pakistan anti-corruption code

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — International batsman Umar Akmal was suspended for breaching the Pakistan Cricket Board anti-corruption code on Thursday.

Akmal’s offense was not stated, but the PCB said in a statement “the batsman cannot take part in any cricket-related activity pending the investigation being carried out by the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Unit.”

Akmal was suspended from the Quetta Gladiators just hours before they began their defense of the Pakistan Super League title.

Allrounder Anwar Ali was named as Akmal’s replacement in the Quetta lineup.

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 home from England in 2017 when he failed a fitness test before the Champions Trophy which Pakistan won.

The 29-year-old Akmal made a century in his debut test against New Zealand in 2009, but has played only 16 tests, scoring 1,003 runs with the last test against Zimbabwe in 2011.

In white-ball cricket, Akmal has played 121 ODIs and 84 Twenty20s. He was recalled last year for the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka in Lahore, but didn’t score in the first two games and was dropped.