Lahore's Fakhar Zaman charged with alleged ball tampering in Pakistan Super League game
Lahore Qalandars' Fakhar Zaman has been charged with alleged ball tampering ahead of the last over of a Pakistan Super League game against Karachi Kings
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Lahore Qalandars cricketer Fakhar Zaman has been charged with alleged ball tampering ahead of the last over of a Pakistan Super League game against Karachi Kings on Sunday.
“Fakhar denied the charge leveled against him during a disciplinary hearing led by the match referee Roshan Mahanama,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said in a statement. “Another hearing is set to take place within the next 48 hours after which the match referee will share his verdict.” If found guilty, the minimum punishment for a Level 3 offense is a one-match ban.
The controversy in the country’s premier domestic T20 tournament erupted when fast bowler Haris Rauf was due to bowl the final over with the Karachi Kings needing 14 more runs for victory.
Lahore captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, batter Zaman and Rauf were together at the bowler’s run-up with all three handling the ball at some stage during their discussions with each other, which are common in cricket at key stages of the match.
Umpire Faisal Afridi then called for the ball, inspected it and had a long discussion with second on-field umpire Sharfuddoula of Bangladesh.
Recommended for you
Both umpires decided that the ball had been deliberately altered and awarded five penalty runs to Karachi, which now needed nine runs off the last six balls. The umpires also changed the ball.
Karachi batter Khushdil Shah holed out off the first ball of the last over but Rauf followed it with a wide before Abbas Afridi smashed a four and a six to earn a four-wicket win for Karachi in 19.3 overs.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.