Latest Cricket News: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) provisionally suspended Zeeshan Malik, the Northern batsman, on Thursday under the anti-corruption rule.
Under Article 4.7.1 of the PCB's Anti-Corruption Code, Zeeshan has been suspended from all cricket-related activities awaiting the outcome of the inquiry.
Malik, a 24-year-old off-break bowler, has also represented Karachi Kings. He has played 19 first-class matches, 17 List A games, and 21 live T20s since making his first-class debut in 2016. He also played in the recently ended National T20 Cup, scoring 123 runs at a 24.60 average.
While the PCB has not revealed the cause for Malik's suspension, the board has launched an inquiry into him under item 4.7.1 of its code, which includes a wide variety of offences such as corruption and criminal law violations.
Provisional suspension is effective when the PCB decides to charge an individual with a corruption offence or considers that there are other exceptional circumstances where law enforcement agencies arrest the individual under criminal law, according to article 4.7.1 of the PCB's anti-corruption code.
The PCB has the authority to suspend a player until the outcome of an anti-corruption tribunal inquiry into the alleged crime if it believes that the sport's integrity would otherwise be significantly jeopardised.
"Any decision to Provisionally Suspend the Participant will be communicated to the Participant in writing, with a copy sent at the same time to the ICC and, where applicable, the National Cricket Federation to which the Participant is affiliated," the PCB said in a statement.
After becoming Pakistan's third-highest run-scorer during the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, Zeeshan rose to fame, averaging 56.25 for his 225 runs. He is from Chakwal in the Rawalpindi area and made his first-class debut for Rawalpindi in 2016. He has now played five seasons for the team.
In the 2019-20 season, he scored 780 runs at a 52-run average for Northern. In the 2018-19 season, he had 467 List A runs, including three hundreds, which kept him in national contention