Pakistan Cricket: Batsman Khalid Latif Banned on Corruption Charges

By Rida Zaheer

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has imposed ban on batsman Khalid Latif for the next five years on the account of corruption as the decision was upheld by an independent adjudicator – Justice Fakheer Mohammad Khokhar – on January 31 2018.
According to the inquiry in September 2017, Latif was found to be guilty by an Anti-Corruption Tribunal of the PCB, of playing a role in the spot-fixing scandal which marred the second edition of the Pakistan Super League. Consequently, he was banned across all formats and was slapped with a fine of PKR 1 Million. Latif filed an appeal against this verdict with the adjudicator, but has now proven unsuccessful.
Earlier, famous Pakistan batsman Sharjeel Khan was also handed a five-year ban for a similar offence, while fast bowler Mohammad Irfan and all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz were suspended for 12 months and two months respectively, for not reporting a corruption approach.
Despite making his first-class debut around the age of 15, Latif hasn’t been able to cut it to the Test team for Pakistan. Even in the limited-overs format, he has only played 5 ODIs and 13 T20Is for his country