LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars batter Fakhar Zaman has been charged with a Level 3 offence under Article 2.14 of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel for allegedly breaching Article 41.3 of the playing conditions, which prohibits any action that alters the condition of the ball.
“Fakhar denied the charge levelled against him during a disciplinary hearing led by the match referee Roshan Mahanama,” the PCB said.
“Another hearing is set to take place within the next 48 hours after which the match referee will share his verdict.”
The controversy unfolded shortly before the final over of Karachi Kings’ chase, when the on-field umpires examined the ball and ruled that its condition had been changed. As a result, a five-run penalty was imposed on the fielding side, reducing Karachi’s target to nine runs instead of 14.
The incident came after Fakhar, Lahore captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and fast bowler Haris Rauf were involved in a brief discussion, during which Fakhar and Rauf passed the ball between them. The umpire then approached Rauf and asked to see the ball before, following consultation with the square-leg umpire, awarding the penalty and ordering the ball to be changed.
The penalty proved decisive as Abbas Afridi struck a four and a six to seal a four-wicket Karachi win with three balls to spare.
Shaheen said Lahore would review the footage of the incident. “I don’t know about this [ball tampering], and we’ll discuss. Five runs penalty…but we can’t say anything. We will see,” said Shaheen at the post-match presentation.
Reflecting on the overall performance, Shaheen maintained that his side’s batting effort was respectable, pointing to the opposition’s struggle while chasing a modest target.
“It was a good game. We wanted to fight till the final ball, and the team tried. In both teams’ batting, it was the same. I feel our batting was fine, otherwise KK would’ve chased this in 15 overs,” the left-arm pacer stressed.
Fakhar could face a ban of one or two matches if found guilty of ball tampering for a first offence in the PSL.
Hasan Ali fined
In a separate disciplinary development from the same match, Karachi Kings fast bowler Hasan Ali was fined 10% of his match fee for a Level 1 breach of the PCB Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel.
The pacer admitted the offence and accepted the sanction.
Hasan was found to have violated Article 2.5, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures that disparage or could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his or her dismissal during a match”.
The incident took place on the final ball of the 19th over of Lahore Qalandars’ innings when Hasan dismissed Haseebullah Khan.
Lahore were restricted to 128-9 in their 20 overs after opting to bat first. Abdullah Shafique top-scored with 33 off 24 balls, while Haseebullah Khan made 28 from 30 deliveries.
In reply, Muhammad Waseem led Karachi’s chase with 38 off 37 balls, while Saad Baig and Moeen Ali contributed 19 and 18 respectively.
