LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday slapped a three-match ban on Umar Akmal for breach of his central contract, said a statement released by PCB.  

"The PCB Disciplinary Committee found Umar to be in breach of the aforesaid Clauses of his Central Contract on multiple occasions."

In addition to the match ban, he was also fined Rs1 million and denial of NOC for participation in any foreign leagues, tournaments or matches for a period of two months.

The announcement by PCB came after Chairman PCB Najam Sethi returned to Pakistan and reviewed the report on Akmal. 

Akmal had appeared before PCB's Disciplinary Committee "to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for allegedly violating Clauses 2.2.5, 4.1 and 4.4 of his Central Contract".

Sethi said these sanctions had been awarded with a heavy heart but with the hope that it served as a precedent for all cricketers who should be mindful of their obligations and the consequences of their actions.

Earlier, the PCB issued a show-cause notice to Umar Akmal following the middle-order batsman?s media outburst against head coach Mickey Arthur.

The batsman alleged that Arthur was abusive towards him and other players.

He went on to claim that senior players did not stop the coach when he was being verbally abused and added that the coach had told him to play club-level cricket instead of coming to the academy.

Akmal said he was dropped from the team after an unjustified warning, and that he wanted to inform the PCB regarding the behaviour of the coaching staff.

Coach Arthur, however, rubbished Akmal's claims and said the batsman was not telling the truth.