Shoaib Malik given one-Test ban

Shoaib Malik will miss the first Test against West Indies after being handed his ban © Getty Images

Shoaib Malik has been given a one-Test ban after he admitted deliberately losing the domestic Twenty20 match between Sialkot Stallions and Karachi Zebras. He engineered the result so that Sialkot lost the match, thinking it would knock the Lahore Eagles out of the tournament. Malik will miss the first Test against West Indies in Barbados, starting on May 26.

Along with the ban Malik has been fined 75% of his match fee for the first two ODIs in West Indies. Malik, the Sialkot management and coach have all received severe reprimands for their part in manipulating the result of the match. The PCB has also begun an inquiry into other matches during the Twenty20 tournament to ensure no other results were thrown.

The inquiry committee - headed by Haroon Rashid, the former Test player and Pakistan team manager - took into account Malik's public apology over the incident and his previously unblemished record, but felt that his actions damaged Pakistan's cricketing image and had shown disrespect to the crowd. However the committee did recognise that his actions were not part of any match-fixing with no financial implications, but were an immature attempt to express his disappointment at earlier decisions in the competition that he felt went against his side.