In the recent past, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has on multiple occasions pointed out how fair play in the game of cricket, both domestic and international, is of utmost importance. In this gentleman’s game, there’s no room for those who cheat to alter the outcome of a game, who monetary or other gains.
Several cricketers have been heavily penalized by the ICC and their respective country’s board in recent times, with Bangladesh’s Shakib-al-Hasan out on a ban right now, for failing to report the approaches of bookies. Similarly, Pakistani batsman Umar Akmal was given a 3-year ban for similar reasons.
A latest piece of news coming in speaks about Afghanistan wicket-keeper batsman Shafiqullah Shafiq being handed over a massive 6-year ban for serious breaches of the country’s anti-corruption code. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) recently confirmed the ban due to involvement in fixing in the 2018 Afghanistan Premier League (APL T20) and the 2019 Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
The wicket-keeper has cumulatively played 70 ODIs and T20Is for Afghanistan with 3 international fifties to his name as well. The news was just broken to the cricketing world by a report on Cricbuzz and it is said that Shafiq has pleaded guilty to all 4 charges levied on him, and the ban is effective immediately. The charges included:
- Article 2.1.1 which speaks about fixing or influencing the result of, or deliberately under-performing in a domestic match.
- Article 2.1.3 which speaks about accepting bribes or other rewards to do the same in any domestic match.
- Article 2.1.4 which speaks about persuading or encouraging other cricketers to facilitate the same.
- Article 2.4.4 which speaks about failing to disclose details of approaches or invitations to the designated Anti-Corruption Official.
Further details on this story are yet to come in, but you can stay tuned to ReadScoops.com for all further updates…
