PCB To Discuss Shoaib`s Fate

The international future of Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar will be determined at a PCB board meeting later this month.

The 32-year-old was not included in a provisional 21-man squad for Pakistan's forthcoming one-day series against Zimbabwe due to concerns over his fitness.

And those health issues, coupled with Shoaib's chequered disciplinary record, are starting to cause concern within Pakistani cricket.

PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf told the Daily Times:

"Shoaib is facing fitness as well as disciplinary problems that were even pointed out during the India tour last year."

"He has repeatedly violated discipline on a number of occasions. His case is referred to the PCB disciplinary committee and his future will be decided in the PCB governing body meeting to be held on January 25."

Shoaib, once the mainstay of the Pakistan attack, has become a peripheral figure in recent years, mainly due to a series of off-field controversies.

He was sent home from the tour of Australia in 2005 amid rumours of a lack of commitment and a year later was banned for two years after failing a drugs test, although this was overturned on appeal.

In September 2007, he was sent home before the World Twenty20 after a scuffle with team-mate Mohammad Asif.