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Former Pakistani cricket captain Salim Malik pleaded with sports authorities on Wednesday to abandon his lifetime ban and give him a chance to train.
Malik, 57, was convicted of match-fixing after a 2000 judicial investigation into a scandal that rocked the nation crazy about cricket.
Australians Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May had accused him of offering them bribes for underperforming during his 1995 tour of Pakistan.
Its ban was lifted by a Pakistani court in 2008, but the decision was not endorsed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) or the International Cricket Council.
Malik has argued that he deserves a “second chance.”
“I wanted to serve my country and my players as a coach,” he said in a video message.
Former fast bowler Ata-ur-Rehman was also banned for life in the investigation, while six other players were fined.
Malik said he had spent years pressuring the PCB to reverse the ban.
“Every time I tried to serve as a coach, I wasn’t considered,” said Malik, who played 103 tests and 283 one-day internationals in a career that spanned from 1982 to 1999.
He applied to be the Pakistan hitting coach in 2012 and was also in dispute for the job of head coach at the National Cricket Academy in 2008, but was ignored both times.
Malik argued that other players guilty of foul play have been allowed to return to the sport.
“Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Sharjeel Khan have been playing but have ignored me,” he said.
Butt, Asif and Amir were banned for five years in a 2010 stain repair case, while Sharjeel received a similar sentence in 2017.
Three of Malik’s former teammates said they supported lifting the former boss’ ban earlier this month.
