KARACHI: Controversial Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar will appeal against the reduced 18-month ban slapped on him by the appellate tribunal of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), his lawyer said on Monday.
Though the tribunal actually reduced the original five-year ban to 18 months while slapping a Rs seven million fine on the pacer, Shoaib's legal counsel Abid Hasan Minto said the fast bowler would appeal against the punishment as he was not happy with the ruling.
"Shoaib feels the 18-month ban is still very harsh and unjustified given the reasons for his being banned. We will either appeal in the High Court or perhaps even before the tribunal," Minto said.
"We have to first go through the full judgment of the tribunal in which it reduced his ban from five years to 18 months and fined him seven million rupees. After this we will decide where to appeal but in principle we have decided to appeal," Minto said.
The three-member tribunal, headed by retired Lahore High court judge Aftab Farrukh, had earlier found the original five-year ban too harsh. But while reducing it to 18 months, the tribunal also fined the fast bowler seven million rupees.
Minto said the appeal would also be against the fine.
Shoaib was initially banned for five years by the disciplinary committee of the board in March who found him guilty on several counts of violating the players code of conduct and also violating a two year probation period imposed on him since last year.
The pacer who has represented his country in 46 Tests and 138 one-day internationals has remained in conflict with the board since last year when he was also banned for 13 matches and fined Rs 3.4 million for hitting teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat in South Africa.
Shoaib had said after the tribunal decision that he was not happy and very disappointed as he wanted to play for Pakistan as soon as possible.
Minto said the 180-month ban was still harsh and could prevent Shoaib, 32, from resuming his international career soon.
