LAHORE — Pakistani Cricketer Umar Akmal was handed a three-year long ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday from all formats of the game after he pled guilty in failing to report the offer of fixing a match. Akmal who will turn 30 next month withdrew the challenge to the charges in March. The batsman has been suspended from Feb. 20 under the anti-corruption code, which states that if any player is approached to fix a game he/ she must report of the incident immediately. The decision was announced by the disciplinary committee after a brief hearing of the PCB which charged Akmal with 2 breaches. The board said, “The PCB referred the matter to the chairman of the disciplinary committee after determining that the batsman had not requested a hearing.” PCB’s Director of Anti-Corruption and Security Asif Mahmood said that authorities take no “pleasure in seeing a promising international cricketer being declared ineligible” and that too for a period of three years on corruption charges, but defended the ban as necessary. He added, “I request all professional cricketers to stay away from the menace of corruption and immediately inform relevant authorities as soon as they are approached.” After the sentence was delivered, Akmal was driven away by his driver as he avoided the media to comment on his ban.