LAHORE, Monday - Controversial Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal was banned Monday from all forms of cricket for three years after pleading guilty to failing to report match-fixing approaches, the country's cricket board announced.
Umar, who turns 30 in May, withdrew last month from challenging the charges.
Umar's ban is effective from February 20, when he was provisionally suspended by the board under its anti-corruption code, which states a player must report being approached to fix games.
The decision was announced by a disciplinary committee after a brief hearing of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Akmal's case had gone directly to the PCB disciplinary panel after he opted to forego the right to a hearing before the anti-corruption tribunal, where he could have pleaded his innocence and contested the charges.
His decision not to do that meant, in effect, that he would accept whatever sanctions Justice Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan, the disciplinary committee chairman, imposed on him.
The PCB had formally charged Akmal with two breaches of its anti-corruption code for two unrelated incidents on March 20.
The charges come under Article 2.4.4, which deals with: "Failing to disclose to the PCB Vigilance and Security Department (without unnecessary delay) full details of any approaches or invitations received by the Participant to engage in Corrupt Conduct under this Anti-Corruption Code".
The ban will come as a huge setback for the 29-year-old Akmal, who has had a number of brushes with the authorities over the years since his Pakistan debut in 2009.
Umar burst onto the scene with a century in his first Test in 2009, but his career has been marred by disciplinary problems, resulting in various bans and fines.
He was arrested in February 2014 after a scuffle with a traffic warden who stopped him for a signal violation.
He has been fined and banned for misconduct and failure to keep himself fit multiple times throughout his career, and recently copped a three-month ban for publicly criticising then Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur.
Earlier this year, he was reprimanded by the PCB for misbehaving with a trainer after failing a fitness test, reportedly exposing himself to the trainer in frustration at one point.
Umar last represented Pakistan in two Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka in Lahore last year, falling to first ball ducks on both occasions.
He has so far played 16 Tests, 121 one-day games and 84 Twenty20s for Pakistan.
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