CHENNAI: On Thursday, Sharjeel Khan said this of the Pakistan Super League. “The PSL changed my life.” It was an utterly prescient quote. It certainly did on Friday as the Pakistan Cricket Board provisionally suspended Sharjeel and Khalid Latif under the body’s Anti-Corruption Code.
Duration of the suspension orders was not announced, but the Pakistan Cricket Board said the two would remain suspended as long as its fight against corruption continues. A left-handed opener, the 27-year-old Sharjeel has played a Test and 25 ODIs. Latif, 30 and a right-handed batsman, has played five ODIs.
“The PCB today provisionally suspended two players under its Anti-Corruption Code as part of an ongoing investigation into an international syndicate which is believed to be attempting to corrupt the Pakistan Super League which started in Dubai on Thursday,” a PCB statement said.
“Sharjeel and Latif (both representing Islamabad United) have been suspended and the rigorous and wide-ranging investigation by the PCB supported by ICC will continue,” it added.
No stranger to this, cricket has witnessed several fixing cases in recent years. Cricket South Africa handed out bans to five players last year including the Indian-born Gulam Bodi, who admitted to try and fix games during the 2015 edition of the Ram Slam T20 competition.
It then found Alviro Petersen, who has opened for the Proteas in Tests, guilty of trying to fix games and handed him a two-year ban. Sharjeel, who made Test debut against Australia in Sydney earlier this year, made one off four balls against Peshawar Zalmi on Thursday. Khalid Latif did not feature in the match.