Khalid Latif: Pakistan batsman banned for five years after spot-fixing inquiry

Khalid Latif has played five one-day internationals and 13 Twenty20 internationals for Pakistan.

PAKISTAN batsman Khalid Latif has been banned from cricket for five years for his part in a spot-fixing ring.

A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) tribunal handed down the punishment after finding Latif guilty of all charges at a hearing on Wednesday,

The PCB has been conducting a long-running investigation into corruption in the Twenty20 Pakistan Super League.

Latif, 31, has played five one-day internationals and 13 Twenty20 internationals for Pakistan.

He was fined one million Pakistan rupees (£7,020) after being found guilty of fixing or taking a bribe to underperform, failing to disclose corrupt approaches and soliciting players into corrupt acts.

Fellow Islamabad United batsman Sharjeel Khan was also banned for five years last month, with two and a half years of his ban suspended.

Spot-fixing is where the outcome of a particular passage of play is pre-determined, as opposed to fixing the outcome of a match.

All-rounder Mohammad Nawaz and seamer Mohammad Irfan have also been sanctioned as part of the inquiry after they failed to report suspicious approaches.

A number of other players have also been questioned or suspended while the inquiry is carried out.

Britain’s National Crime Agency provided the initial intelligence that led to the PCB investigation. -bbc