The International Cricket Council (ICC) formally announced on Wednesday that Ashar Zaidi, the Pune Devils’ batting coach, and co-owners Parag Sanghavi and Krishan Kumar Choudhary have been banned for their admissions of participating in corrupt practices during the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 league.
Zaidi, an English league all-rounder who was born in Karachi and never played for Pakistan but made a name for himself because he was British-national, has been barred from any cricket-related activities for a period of five years.
However, after admitting to two transgressions of the Emirates Cricket Board’s anti-corruption policies, Sanghavi and Choudhary were each handed a two-year suspension.
Out of the eight competing organisations, the Pune Devils finished their Super League campaign in a pitiful eighth place with just one victory in six games.
Notable individuals on its roster included Mohammad Amir, David Malan, and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, among others.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) claims that the sanctions have been retroactively applied to September 19, 2023, the day that interim suspensions were first placed. Apart from that, it was also mentioned that Sanghavi and Choudhary can start playing cricket again on September 19, 2024, “taking into account the suspended component of the penalty,” while Zaidi can’t start playing until September 19, 2027.
In September 2023, the ICC charged eight people on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board, including Zaidi, Sanghavi, and Choudhary.
The 32-year-old Bangladeshi all-rounder Nasir Hossain, who was given a two-year sentence, stood out among the other five players. On April 7, 2025, he will be qualified to play cricket again.
The charges to which Zaidi, Sanghavi, and Choudhary have acknowledged are:
- Ashar Zaidi
2.1.4: Intentionally assisting any participant in violating Article 2.1 (corruption) by means of direct or indirect solicitation, induction, enticement, instruction, persuasion, encouragement, or other means.
Article 2.4.4: Not providing the anti-corruption authorities with all relevant information regarding any approaches or invitations received to participate in corrupt activities against the code.
- Parag Sanghavi
Article 2.2.1: Betting on the outcome, trajectory, behaviour, or any other facet of international and domestic matches
Article 2.4.6: Failing or refusing, without sufficient cause, to cooperate with any investigation investigating alleged corrupt conduct under the code.
- Krishan Kumar Choudhary
Article 2.4.5: Failing to promptly disclose to a participant all relevant information on any incident, fact, or matter that comes to their attention that may indicate corrupt activity by another participant in violation of the code.
Article 2.4.6: Failing or refusing, without sufficient cause, to cooperate with any investigation investigating alleged corrupt conduct under the code.
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