Govt response sought on Muhammad Irfan's petition against travel ban

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) bench on Monday summoned the Attorney General (AG) to explain as to why the name of pacer Muhammad Irfan has not been removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) since he served his punishment over spot-fixing.

The tallest fast bowler of the cricket world was charged by the PCB for failing to disclose approaches made by bookmakers during a domestic T20 tournament.

Irfan, who played for Islamabad United in this year’s Pakistan Super League (PSL), was fined and banned for a year – six months of which were suspended – as a part of a probe by the PCB.

He filed a petition through his counsel in the high court, requesting it to strike his name off the ECL.

The petitioner submitted that his name was placed on the ECL along with two other players found involved in the spot-fixing scandal, despite the fact that he had never done anything against the interests of the country or to dent its image.

Irfan lamented he was not involved in the spot-fixing, yet he was banned for six months.

He said while he had served the six-month ban and exonerated from all charges, his name was not being removed from the ECL.

The petitioner said he desired to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, but he couldn’t due to travel restrictions.

The petitioner pleaded to the court to direct the authorities concerned to remove his name from the ECL.