ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Three former Pakistani players Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir will be eligible to return to competitive cricket at both domestic and international levels after sanctions against them will expire on September 1 this year, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ICC confirmed that the sanctions against the three players will expire on September 1, 2015.
“The International Cricket Council today confirmed that the sanctions against Muhammad Asif and Salman Butt will expire at midnight on 1 September 2015 and that they will be eligible to return to competitive cricket, at both domestic and international levels, on 2 September 2015 after fulfilling the specific conditions laid down by the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal,” said a statement issued on the ICC website.
The statement said that Muhammad Amir will also be eligible to return to cricket at international level at the same time following permission being granted to him to return to play domestic cricket in Pakistan earlier this year.
The three players were found guilty of various offences of corrupt behavior relating to the Lords Test between England and Pakistan in August 2010 by the independent anti-corruption tribunal on February 5, 2011.
The tribunal following a six-day hearing in Qatar had imposed a sanction of five years on Muhammad Amir, seven years on Muhammad Asif (of which the final two years were suspended on specified conditions) and 10 years on Salman Butt (of which the final five years were suspended on specified conditions).
