Afghanistan wicketkeeper Shafiqullah Shafaq has copped a six-year ban from the game for breaches of match-fixing.

Shafaq was found guilty of trying to fix certain matches during the inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier League in 2018 and also involved one of his teammates in fixing practices in last year’s Bangladesh Premier League.

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In a statement, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said: ‘Shafaq has been charged for breaches of the anti-corruption code which relates to fixing or contriving in any way or otherwise influencing improperly, or being a party to any agreement.

‘Shafaq was also charged for seeking, accepting, offering or agreeing to accept any bribe or other reward to fix or to contrive in any way or otherwise to influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of any domestic match.’

The incident is the very first of its kind in the young history of Afghanistan cricket, with the 30-year-old now expected to partake in integrity programmes to help the younger generation of players in the country.