Rana cleared of ball tampering charges

Karachi:

The Pakistan Cricket Board disciplinary committee has cleared all-rounder Rana Naved-ul Hasan of ball tampering charges during the recent national Twenty20 Championship here.

Rana Naved, who has already been banned for 12 months and fined two million rupees by PCB for violating the code of conduct in Australia, escaped further punishment when the disciplinary committee found no evidence against him on indulging in ball tampering during the domestic tournament.

"The committee found no evidence and neither did the match referee and umpires mentioned anything in their reports," Sultan Rana, PCB director of domestic cricket operations said.

The Karachi City Cricket Association had sent a complaint to PCB that Rana tampered with the ball during a match between Karachi and Sialkot Stallions but the umpires ignored his act.

Karachi lost the match and could not make the knockout stage.

Sultan said the KCCA complaint had been considered and looked into but since the match referee or umpires did not report anything unusual, Rana was given a clean chit.

"We take the issue of ball tampering very seriously and under new rules players found guilty can be fined heavily or face ban ranging from three to six matches," he said.