Umar being treated unfairly, says brother Kamran

LAHORE: Pakistan’s forgotten wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal has lashed out at the PCB for its decision to challenge the reduction of the ban imposed on his younger brother Umar Akmal for not reporting spot-fixing approaches. Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar recently reduced Umar’s ban fromthree years to 18months after hearing his appeal. Justice Khokhar also gave Umar and the PCB the option of filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for International Sports against his decision. On Monday, the PCB announced it would file the appeal.ButKamran said in the past players had been banned for short terms of three to six months and even had their fines reduced but in Umar’s case the PCB was not even satisfiedwith the 18months ban. Umar has always cooperatedwith the authorities in such cases and this time also he admitted the mistake of not reporting the matter to the authorities, Kamran said and added that even the reduced 18months banwas harsh. PCBsaid it has taken the decision following a review of the detailed order of the independent adjudicator. The PCB had suspended Umar on February 20 this year just before the beginning of PSL. Kamran said that his brother was being treated unfairly and already his career had suffered a lot due to unjust selection decisions. The judge who headed the Disciplinary Panel noted in his final decision that Umar had failed to show any remorse or explain why he had not reported the approaches to the PCB. Neither had he divulged details of the discussions he had with the suspected bookmakers at two meetings in Lahore, he said.