PCB waives off 50% fine imposed on Azam Khan for displaying Palestine flag on his bat

The Pakistan Cricket Board has waived off the 50% match fee fine it had imposed on Azam Khan for displaying the Palestine flag on his bat during the ongoing National T20 Cup in Karachi.

Azam, who plays for Karachi Whites in the tournament, was fined 50% of his match fee by the PCB match referee on Sunday after he refused to remove the Palestine flag sticker from his bat during the match against Lahore Blues. The wicketkeeper-batter was found to have violated Article 2.4 of the PCB Code of Conduct for repeated failure to comply with the instruction or directive of an umpire during a match.

The PCB did not give any reason for completely waiving off the fine nor did it explain whether Azam had agreed to take off the sticker from his bat for the remaining matches of the tournament.

"Azam Khan's 50 per cent fine imposed by match officials has been reviewed and waived off by the Pakistan Cricket Board," the PCB said in a release.

"The Karachi Whites wicketkeeper-batter was fined 50 per cent of his match fee for being found guilty of committing a level-1 offence during his side's National T20 Cup 2023-24 match against Lahore Blues at National Bank Stadium, Karachi."

As per ICC rules, players and team officials are not permitted to wear, display or otherwise convey personal messages on their equipment unless approved in advance by both player or team official's cricket association and PCB's cricket operations department.

Azam has appeared in five T20Is for Pakistan, including two against Afghanistan earlier this year. He is known for his big-hitting abilities in T20s and is also a regular in the franchise cricket circuits worldwide.

During the recent ODI World Cup in India, Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan had also tweeted in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza.