LAHORE: The Appellate Tribunal (AT) of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has deferred the hearing of cricketer Khalid Latif’s appeal against the five years ban on him in the PSL spot-fixing case until Dec 5.

One-man AT head, Justice (retd.) Faqir Mohammad Khokhar heard the appeal on Tuesday and later deferred it for Dec 5.

After the hearing, Khalid’s lawyer Badar Alam said since the PCB did not file any appeal to enhance the punishment given to Khalid comprising a five-year ban and rupees one million fine in cash by the PCB Anti-corruption Tribunal (ACT), his client is confident about fighting his case.

PCB’s lawyer Taffazal Rizvi, however, said the PCB did not appeal against Khalid’s punishment obecause it was quite enough.

Khalid was the second cricketer after opener Sharjeel Khan, who received punishment in the spot-fixing case from the ACT, headed by retired Justice Asghar Haider.

The Appellate Tribunal had already upheld the ACT’s order in the case of Sharjeel, rejecting the appeal of both PCB and the cricketer. The ACT has announced a five-year ban for Sharjeel with half of the period suspended in case he strictly adheres to the Code of Conducts of the PCB. While the PCB contested to get Sharjeel’s punishment enhanced, the opener fought to get it reduced. But the AT rejected the appeals of both the parties, upholding the ACT’s orders.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2017