Younis appeal postponed to May 29

Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan's appeal against the indefinite ban imposed on him by the PCB has been postponed to Saturday May 29. Younis' lawyer, Mohammad Ahmed Qayyum, said that the one-man tribunal chaired by Irfan Qadir, did not order an immediate stay on the ban and added that Younis was "frustrated" with the latest development.

"Younus is frustrated at the delay in hearing and has demanded the ban should be suspended with immediate effect," Qayyum told AFP. Qayyum was awaiting more documents from the PCB. "As per the tribunal orders the PCB has yet to give us full documents and the documents given to us do not include audios and videos of Younis' statement before the evaluation committee.

"Similarly, we want to argue (against) all those people who have accused Younis of being 'arrogant and causing problems', an opportunity not given to us yet."

"We requested the arbitrator to at least issue an interim stay against the suspension but he deferred our request until May 29," Qayyum also told Associated Press in Lahore. "It's a stigma on my client as I feel he has done nothing wrong."

Another former captain, Shoaib Malik, also appeared before Qadir with his lawyer, and the new date for his hearing has been fixed for May 22.

"The arbitrator listened to our arguments and now representatives of the Pakistan Cricket Board will present their arguments in the next hearing," Malik told reporters.

Seven Pakistan players were penalised, for various reasons, by the PCB in the aftermath of a winless tour of Australia. Younis and Mohammad Yousuf, who has retired from international cricket, were banned indefinitely. Malik and Naved-ul-Hasan were banned for a year while the Akmal brothers and Shahid Afridi were fined and placed on a six-month probation. Each of the players, with the exception of Yousuf, have appealed against the punishments.

Younis and Yousuf were accused of "infighting" and having a "negative influence" on the team. Qayyum also criticised the leaking of the inquiry committee report, upon which the penalties were based, to the media. "We have also raised objection on the leakage of the report and it's very clear that it's done with a mala fide intentions against Younis."