'He deserved the punishment' - Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad back PCB over Umar Akmal's ban

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently banned Umar Akmal for three years. He was charged for not reporting approaches from corrupt individuals. Apparently, Akmal had been approached by match-fixers and bookies multiple times but he didn’t report it to the board.

The wicketkeeper-batsman was suspended from playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) this year and an investigation was launched by PCB. Upon being found guilty, the board decided to ban him from all forms of cricket. Former Pakistan great Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad gave their opinion on his ban and called it the right decision.

He never listened to anyone, says Javed Miandad

While speaking in a recent interview, former Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas said that he believes that Umar Akmal’s international career is over and he deserved this punishment. Abbas pointed out that Umar being a senior player should have known the rules but ignored it. He further questioned how can someone be a great talent if that he is not following rules properly.

“I think his international career is all but over. He deserved the punishment. Akmal wasn’t a junior player. He was playing for Pakistan for a long time. He must have been told by the PCB about the ICC Anti-Corruption rules many times – what to do when a corrupt approach is made. But he was ignoring it. PCB got to know that somebody (a corruptor) was trying to get hold of Umar. Later on, he confessed, but it was too late.

“How can you say he is a great talent when he isn’t following the rules? If you aren’t following the rules, then you aren’t a great player,” Abbas was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad also expressed his views on his matter. The veteran revealed that he had talked with Umar Akmal several times and told him to change himself. However, he didn’t listen to anyone. Miandad also requested young players to learn from the cricketer’s mistake as it can ruin their careers.

“He was a very good cricketer but he got involved in unnecessary controversies. I had told him many times to change himself but he didn’t listen to anyone. Today, the result is in front of everyone, he got banned for three years,” said Miandad. “I would like to request youngsters, please don’t put yourself into such things. It will ruin your careers for sure”, Miandad said in a Youtube video.