Shoaib Akhtar legal case dropped

Shoaib Akhtar will be playing in India soon

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board has dropped a defamation case against fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

Shoaib had alleged that Nasim Ashraf had demanded payments to allow him to play in the new Indian Premier League.

He made the comments shortly after being banned from playing for making comments critical of the PCB.

Mr Ahsraf says Shoaib has apologised for making the allegations and withdrawn them. On Sunday the PCB temporarily suspended the ban.

It has been suspended, pending a further hearing, for a month and Shoaib is now free to play in the remaining games of the premier league for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

"I have withdrawn the defamation case as my honour was vindicated after Akhtar apologised publicly and retracted his baseless allegations," Mr Ashraf told the AFP news agency.

The Knight Riders franchise signed the Pakistani paceman in February for �215,000.

They started strongly but have lost four matches on the trot and will hope Shoaib can add a cutting edge to their attack as they aim to secure a place in the semi-finals at the end of May.

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