Malik vows to fight one-year ban
Pakistan’s former cricket captain Shoaib Malik vowed Monday to fight
against a one-year ban from the game, saying he will lodge an appeal and
try to revive his career.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on March 10 banned Malik from all
forms of the game for a year and fined him two million rupees (about
25,000 dollars) for breaching the players’ code of conduct.
Local media reported that Malik was banned for match-fixing but the
PCB has not specified its reasons for the ban or the nature of his
violation. The verdict was one of a number of penalties imposed on
Pakistani cricketers for a dismal performance in their December-February
tour of Australia.
“I will fight against the ban and go to every possible platform to
prove my innocence.
I want to prove my innocence as there have been no cases of
indiscipline in my 11-year career,” Malik told AFP.
“Cricket is my passion and I live for it. I love cricket and cannot
think of life without it,” said Malik, who has played 29 Tests, 190
one-day and 30 Twenty20 internationals for Pakistan.
The penalties were imposed on the recommendations of a committee set
up to investigate the Australia tour, in which Pakistan lost all three
Tests, five one-days matches and a Twenty20 international.
All-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was also banned for one year, while
former captains Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were barred from the
game for an indefinite period due to “infighting.”
LAHORE, AFP |