LAHORE: Pakistan’s former cricket captain Shoaib Malik vowed today to fight against a one-year ban from the game, saying he will lodge an appeal and try to revive his career.

The Pakistan Cricket Board on March 10 banned Malik from all forms of the game for a year and fined him two million rupees (about $25,000) for breaching the players’ code of conduct. Local media reported Malik was banned for match-fixing but the PCB has not specified its reasons for the ban or the nature of his violation.

The verdict was one of a number of penalties imposed on Pakistani cricketers for a dismal performance in their December-February tour of Australia. Malik has played 29 Tests, 190 one-day and 30 Twenty20 internationals.

The penalties were imposed on the recommendations of a committee set up to investigate the Australia tour, in which Pakistan lost all three Tests, five ODIs and a Twenty20 match. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was also banned for one year, while former captains Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were barred from the game for an indefinite period due to “infighting.”

Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umer Akmal were also fined heavily and put on probation for six months. The players have 30 days to appeal.

Malik was appointed captain after Pakistan’s first round exit from the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007, but sacked after Pakistan’s 2-1 one-day home series defeat against Sri Lanka in January last year.