Shoaib set to appear before appellate committee

Shoaib Akhtar will appear before the PCB's two-man appellate tribunal looking into charges of indiscipline against the fast bowler on August 20.

Mueen Afzal, a member of the board's ad-hoc committee and Imtiaz Ahmed, the former Test wicketkeeper, met on Saturday and listened to Shafqat Naghmi, the board's chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi and Zakir Khan, director cricket operations. The board imposed a Rs300,000 (approximately US$5000) fine on Shoaib for leaving a training camp in Karachi early without asking permission and for subsequently not appearing before a disciplinary committee earlier this month.

"After discussing the procedure to be adopted for carrying out the proceedings and collecting necessary information from the PCB officials in this regard, we have decided to summon Shoaib Akhtar to appear before the tribunal on Monday at 3.30pm," said Afzal.

More witnesses, Afzal said, may be called, including manager Talat Ali and Shoaib Malik, Pakistan captain, depending on their necessity.

Shoaib will argue that he was not given a fair opportunity by the board to explain the situation. He pointed out recently that he skipped the camp after informing Malik, though protocol demands that the manager should also have been told.

Shoaib also says that he received the disciplinary committee's notice on August 10, asking him to appear before it on August 7. The tribunal is likely to announce its decision on Monday as the national training camp for the first Twenty20 World Championship is scheduled to begin at the Gaddafi Stadium a day after the hearing.