Islamabad, April 3:

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sued paceman Shoaib Akhtar for $3 million for making allegedly defamatory comments after he was banned for five years. Akhtar was banned by the PCB on Tuesday, a move that effectively ends his career after a series of disciplinary problems culminating in a public outburst against the board.

“We demand immediate retraction of allegations from Akhtar in various statements which were malicious and baseless,” PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf said. “He must apologise and pay damages of 100 million rupees to the PCB and damages of 100m rupees to me.”

In a letter made public by the board, lawyers for PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf demanded the money for a “malicious and vile piece of defamation” allegedly made by Akhtar in a television interview on Wednesday.