KARACHI: The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported on Wednesday that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to let the dashing opener Fakhar Zaman off with a reprimand for his breach of the players’ code of conduct. As a result, he is expected to be included in the central contracts and receive a call-up to the national white-ball squad.
The PTI was informed by a PCB source that a committee would soon be formed to investigate the left-hander’s response to the show-cause notice regarding his tweet about former captain Babar Azam.
The PCB instructed Fakhar to respond or face disciplinary action in the show-cause notice.
The opener was also ignored for the white-ball series that took place last week in Australia and Zimbabwe and was removed from the list of central contracts for 2024-25.
“Fakhar has apologized and expressed regret in his response to the PCB show-cause notice. According to the source, internal discussions between selectors, new captain Mohammad Rizwan, and PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi bode well for Fakhar.
However, according to him, the selectors had instructed Fakhar to concentrate on recovering from his knee injury in time for the white-ball series in South Africa in December.
The source continued, “He is most likely to be first added to the [PCB] central contracts list and will then be included in the squad for the South Africa white-ball matches.”
The source added, “Rizwan and the selectors agreed that Fakhar was still required for the white-ball squad, especially with the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in Pakistan beginning next year.”
“The consensus is that a committee would first accept Fakhar’s response to the show-cause notice, and then he would be cleared for selection. Before the selection for the South Africa tour, he would have to pass a fitness test.”
