LAHORE: Lahore Qalandars batsman Fakhar Zaman has been charged with a Level 3 offense under Article 2.14 of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel for allegedly violating Article 41.3 of the playing conditions, which prohibits any action that alters the condition of the ball.
“Fakhar denied the charges leveled against him during a disciplinary hearing conducted by match referee Roshan Mahanama,” the PCB said.
“Another hearing is scheduled within the next 48 hours, after which the match referee will share his verdict.”
The controversy unfolded shortly before the end of the Karachi Kings’ chase, when on-field umpires examined the ball and ruled that its condition had changed. As a result, a five-run penalty was imposed at the pitch side, reducing Karachi’s target to nine runs instead of 14.
The incident occurred after Fakhar, Lahore captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and fast bowler Haris Rauf became involved in a brief argument, during which Fakhar and Rauf passed the ball between them. The referee then approached Rauf and asked him to see the ball before, after consulting with the square leg referee, he awarded the penalty and ordered the ball to be changed.
The penalty proved decisive as Abbas Afridi hit a four and a six to seal a four-wicket win for Karachi 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 will discuss it. Penalty of five runs…but we can’t say anything. We’ll see,” Shaheen said at the post-match presentation.
Reflecting on the overall performance, Shaheen maintained that his team’s batting effort was respectable, pointing out the opposition’s struggle while chasing a modest target.
“It was a good game. We wanted to fight till the last ball and the team tried. The batting of both teams was equal. I feel our batting was good, otherwise KK would have chased this in 15 overs,” the left-arm pacer stressed.
Fakhar could face a one- or two-match ban if he is found guilty of ball tampering in his first offense 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 infraction and accepted the sanction.
Hasan was found to have violated Article 2.5, which relates to “the use of language, actions or gestures that disparage or may provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman following his dismissal during a match.”
The incident took place on the last ball of Lahore Qalandars’ 19th innings when Hasan dismissed Haseebullah Khan.
Lahore were restricted to 128-9 in their 20 overs after opting to bat first. Abdullah Shafique scored 33 off 24 balls, while Haseebullah Khan made 28 off 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.
