The Pakistan Cricket Board has upheld its five-year ban imposed on fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

Aftab Farukh, the judge heading a three-member appellate panel on Monday said, “Basically he has not tried to reform himself and has continued to violate discipline. That is the view of the tribunal so the ban stays.”

“We will not suspend five-year ban order on Shoaib.

“Shoaib has harmed the board, fans and the entire country,” he added.
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Now that he has shaken hands and accepted his fate, Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh will be hoping that over the next month or so he can stay away from the arclights and introspect.

But the offie will have no such luxury for a combative BCCI is in no mood to allow Harbhajan to escape with just an 11-match IPL ban.

BCCI President Sharad Pawar says, “Separate decisions need to be taken for IPL and Team India.”
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Karachi (PTI): The Pakistani cricketers playing in the Indian Premier League have been advised to be careful about the company they keep following inquiries by ICC’s Anti-corruption unit this month.

A senior official of the Pakistan Cricket Board told PTI that after the ACU questioned Younis Khan, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria about an Indian they had befriended on their last tour there, PCB had told the players to be wary.

“The ACU investigations have made no headway nor have they apparently found any evidence to suggest any player violating the ICC Code of Conduct,” the official said.
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The Indian Cricket League (ICL) season ended yesterday giving its cricketers a chance to cool their heels. But there is no respite for its administrators, who are tending to some pending work. The ICL has finally sent an official request to world cricket’s governing body, International Cricket Council (ICC), imploring for official approval. This is the first such instance when ICL, a rebel league not recognized by any national cricket board across the globe, has applied for ICC’s seal of approval.

Since this site is dedicated to the ultimate cricket spectacle, IPL, it can safely be presumed that most of the readers believe that the ICC has already thrown the request into the trashcan. However, the ICC is weighing its options. “We are awaiting advice from our lawyers on that issue and I expect it within the next week or so (after which) we’ll respond to the ICL lawyers,” said Malcom Speed.

But even if ICC approves the ICL the whole exercise might only fetch the league some PR brownie points and nothing else. This is because the ICC has made it clear that it is upon the member boards to decide whether they want to approve a domestic league like the ICL, or even IPL, and its own approval counts for little.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has permitted national team manager Talat Ali to join the India Premier League (IPL) as a match referee.

Talat Ali has already served as the match referee on the ICC panel of referees while has been enjoying his second year as manager of the Pakistan cricket team. There had been a number of incidences during his tenure but he managed to win the favour of the chairman to retain his post. With some expected changes in the PCB, Talat had requested to the Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Dr. Nasim Ashraf to transfer him in the World Cup 2011 secretariat or permit him to join the Indian Premier League. The Chairman PCB refused to appoint him in the World Cup secretariat but gave him NOC to join the IPL match referees panel.
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The Board Of Control for Cricket in India’s increasingly tyrannical tendencies have extended to their accreditation conditions for the Indian Premier League (IPL) after they placed unprecedented demands on media organisations planning to cover the tournament.

Accreditation forms were posted online on Wednesday night with a deadline of April 8, giving media groups just five days to agree to their strict guidelines and apply for relevant matches.

The conditions dictate that the IPL may use all images taken at the grounds for free and without restrictions, and media organisations must commit themselves to uploading the pictures within 24 hours.
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New Delhi: The organisers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will not allow Shoaib Akhtar to participate in their upcoming championship if the ban imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is not revoked, according to Lalit Modi.

“The decision has been taken on the basis of the ban imposed on him by the PCB. If he is able to clear the ban, we will take him in the IPL,” said the IPL Commissioner.

Akhtar was banned by the PCB for a period of five years following an outburst against national selectors, who did not name him in an ‘A’ list of players.
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The cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) has warned companies and agents allied to it that they will be “blacklisted” if they linked up with any rebel league as well. The punishment would also extend to players aligned to these stakeholers. The IPL decision is a reaction to some “aggressive” business approaches adopted by its rivals in the world. But the IPL, backed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC), has not named any rebel league from which it feels threatened.
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Dubai (PTI): International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday gave a stamp of approval to the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) while refusing to recognise the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Announcing a host of decisions at the end of two-day meeting of the ICC Executive Board, President-elect David Morgan said IPL was official cricket just like the County Championship in England whereas ICL was unofficial as it was not approved by the BCCI.

“Since ICL is not approved by BCCI so it is unofficial cricket,” he said.

Morgan said the Executive Board agreed that the IPL was a good concept and although the introduction of privately owned franchises introduced risks to the game, it also provided possible benefits.
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