Lahore Court seeks records of Shoaib indiscipline
A Lahore court has asked the PCB to submit records of Shoaib Akhtar's indiscipline, following an interview given by the fast bowler to an Indian news channel recently, where he had had criticized the board
Cricinfo staff
18-Nov-2008
A court is seeking records of Shoaib Akhtar's latest disciplinary transgression to decide on his appeal of a ban and fine for earlier disciplinary violations.
Shoaib is currently challenging an 18-month ban from cricket and a fine of Rs 7 million (US$95,000) in the Lahore High Court, but the PCB's legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi said Shoaib had repeatedly violated the players' code of conduct.
The court wanted the transcription of a recent interview Shoaib gave to an Indian news channel. Rizvi said the board would submit the text in court within this week. "We have the DVD of the interview that Akhtar gave on an Indian television channel recently in which he criticized the PCB," he told AP. "Akhtar had assured the court about his good behavior but he violated the code of conduct in his recent television interview."
Shoaib's lawyer Abid Minto, however, challenged the cricket board stance that he has repeatedly violated the code of conduct. "There was no inquiry on Akhtar, so we want the Board to produce evidence," Minto told reporters.
The apparent breach of the code of conduct comes after Shoaib, 33, was selected in the Pakistan squad for the T20 Canada in Toronto last month as well as the recently-concluded three-match ODI series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi, after the PCB had softened its stance over his bad behaviour. He was also allowed to turn out for Federal Areas in Pakistan's domestic Pentangular Cup.
He was initially banned by the PCB for five years, but the sentence had been reduced to 18 months, along with the fine, by an appellate tribunal in June.