Pakistan’s Test opener Sharjeel Khan has agreed to follow Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) Anti-Corruption code in order to make an early comeback. The 29-year-old, who was suspended and sent home after the start of the Pakistan Super League in February last year. In between the five-year ban for his involvement in a spot-fixing case, Sharjeel has decided to undertake board’s rehabilitation program.
The left-handed opener is said to be keen to get permission from the PCB for relaxation to resume playing club and domestic cricket before the official expiry of his ban next September.
“Yes Sharjeel has notified us that he accepts the reasons for the ban imposed on him and is ready to attend the rehabilitation program under the Anti-Corruption Code and fulfil all requirements before his ban expires late next year,” a reliable source in the PCB said.
It has also been learned that Sharjeel had apologised to the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani and requested to allow him relaxation to resume playing club and domestic cricket before the completion of his ban period.
Khan will be eligible to play cricket again in September 2019 after the expiry of his ban with half of it suspended.
The Anti-Corruption Tribunal of the PCB had banned Sharjeel, who has appeared in one Test, 25 ODIs and 15 T20 internationals, last year in August for five-years with half of his sentence to remain suspended.
The Tribunal found him guilty of breaching four to five clauses of the code during the second Pakistan Super League held in February 2017 in UAE.