March 30 (Reuters) - Lahore Qalandars batter Fakhar Zaman has been charged with ball-tampering in Sunday's Pakistan Super League (PSL) match against Karachi Kings, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.
The incident occurred in the final over with Karachi needing 14 runs to win. Fakhar, Lahore captain Shaheen Afridi and fast bowler Haris Rauf were involved in a brief discussion, during which Fakhar and Rauf passed the ball between them.
The umpire then approached Rauf and asked to see the ball. Following consultations with the square‑leg umpire, the officials awarded five penalty runs to Karachi and ordered the ball to be changed.
The penalty proved costly as Karachi went on to chase down a target of 129 with three balls to spare, Abbas Afridi hitting a four and a six to seal a four-wicket victory.
"Fakhar denied the charge levelled against him during a disciplinary hearing led by the match referee Roshan Mahanama," the PCB said.
"Another hearing is set to take place within the next 48 hours after which the match referee will share his verdict."
Afridi said they would look at video footage of the incident.
“I don't know about this, and we'll see if it's there in the camera and discuss it,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Fakhar could face a ban of one or two matches if found guilty of ball tampering for a first offence in the PSL.
Australian trio David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were handed lengthy bans by Cricket Australia following a 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford )
