Lahore, April 30:

A Pakistani appeals committee today temporarily upheld a five-year ban imposed on fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar but said he was free to play cricket outside the country.

The paceman was banned earlier for breaching the players’ code of conduct by publicly criticising PCB after he was denied a central contract. “Akhtar can play anywhere outside Pakistan. The disciplinary committee did not restrain him from playing anywhere in the world,” Aftab Farrukh, the head of the three-member tribunal, said.