Rana Naved ul Hasan’s appeal against his one year ban and Rs 2-million fine by the Pakistan Cricket Board is due to be heard on 19th June. Naved who was banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board due to underperformance on the disastrous tour of Australia earlier this year, told PakPassion.net that he is eager to clear his name of any charges.

by Saj Sadiq

16 June 2010

Rana Naved ul Hasan’s appeal against his one year ban and Rs 2-million fine by the Pakistan Cricket Board is due to be heard on 19th June. Naved who was banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board due to underperformance on the disastrous tour of Australia earlier this year, told PakPassion.net that he is eager to clear his name of any charges.

The 32 year old pace bowler who has represented Pakistan on 87 occasions remains unhappy with the charges brought against him and the fact that only certain video segments of his testimony were leaked to the press.

Eyebrows were rasied from certain quarters by the manner of the defeat that Pakistan suffered at the hands of Australia at the MCG in the sole Twenty20 fixture on the tour of Australia on 5th February. Chasing a paltry 128 for victory, Pakistan collapsed to 125 for 9, despite 64 from Kamran Akmal off only 33 deliveries. Rana batting at number 8 scored 1 run off 9 deliveries before he was stumped by Brad Haddin off the bowling of Steve Smith.

Responding to a question regarding the charges brought by the PCB and in particular the aforementioned match at the MCG, Rana stated "To say I was underperforming in that match or at any time of my career is simply not true. In the match that you are referring to, the very first delivery of the 17th over from Mitchell Johnson reared up at me and hit me in the grill. After that incident I was struggling to bat and really couldnt contribute for the rest of that over".

Rana was dismissed in the very next over and he felt that the injury sustained at the hands of Mitchell Johnson contributed to his dismissal. "I wasn't 100% right and tried to carry on batting, but I was struggling. There was absolutely no chance of me underperforming at all".

Part of Rana's evidence at the enquiry committee hearings was leaked to the press and Rana expressed his dissatisfaction to PakPassion.net about the video leaks. "If the video evidence was going to be given to the press then I would have preferred the whole of my evidence was released, rather than just certain segments. During the hearing I clearly stated to the committee that I was injured during the match in Australia and therefore could not bat as I would have wished to. I have always given my all for whoever I have played for, whether it be Pakistan or any of the domestic teams I have represented. The allegations are disappointing and unfair and I hope that at the hearing, the charges are dropped".

The likely verdict in Rana's appeal if all goes according to the previous appeals from the other players that were recently punished, is that his ban will be removed and his fine halved, leaving Mohammad Yousuf as the only punished player "out in the cold".