Shoaib Akhtar's ban reduced to 18-month

Giving some respite and some hope to come back to international cricket circuit, an appellate tribunal on Saturday reduced the career threatening five-year ban imposed on Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar to 18 months. The bowler was serving a five-year ban for a series of indiscipline charges imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) last month.

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The 32-year-old bowler is also asked to pay a fine of Rs 7 million by the Pakistan cricket board's appellate tribunal. The tribunal, earlier on April 01, had suspended the decission for a month allowing Shoaib Akhtar to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) twenty20 cricket tournament.

The tribunal bench headed by Justice Aftab Farrukh said: "The five-year ban was too harsh and hence, the bench decided to reduce the ban on Akhtar. We think that he has three more years to play at the international level, so we have given him about half that time while denying him 18 months. He still has a chance to play for the country again.

"We also took into consideration Akhtar's past record and that fact that he had publicly apologised for his behaviour and past deeds," Farrukh added.

In addition, the tribunal added that Shoaib has promised to reform himself and he is also entitled to appeal in the higher court.

The fast bowler who was also involved in a doping scandal in 2006 has been constantly in news for every wrong or right reason. Last year Shoaib was banned for 13 matches with a hefty fine of Rs 3.4 million for thrashing team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat in South Africa before the Twenty20 World Cup.