KARACHI: Former Pakistan captains Younus Khan (pictured bottom left) and Shahid Afridi (pictured bottom right) were among four senior national cricketers being chased by the country’s financial authority for unpaid taxes totalling Rs80m ($836,200).
A spokesman for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said notices had been send to Younus, Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Umar Akmal, for unpaid tax.
“The notices have been served on these four players as they didn’t pay taxes on income they earned from commercials, their annual contracts and other sources which is around 80m rupees,” the spokesman said.
The players had been given 15 days to pay or face penalties.
Earlier this year team-mates Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, and Taufeeq Umar had all been warned over unpaid tax, the spokesman said.
Pakistan’s tax authorities have adopted a stricter approach to collecting taxes from celebrities and athletes to meet annual tax targets in the country.
Pakistan’s cricketers are some the highest earners in the country, with senior players receiving a base salary of about Rs313,000 ($3200), and match payments of Rs375,000 for Test matches and Rs275,000 for one day internationals.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is also in dispute with the tax authorities and recently had an account frozen until it paid an undisclosed fee.
A PCB official said it deducted tax on player salaries and fees at source. REUTERS
Australian bowler Cummins to miss most of season
SYDNEY: Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins will miss most of the rest of the season with a back injury, Cricket Australia said yesterday.
The 19-year-old is one of the most exciting talents in Australian cricket and it had been hoped he might be in contention for selection for the third Test against South Africa later this month.
“Pat Cummins returned from Champions League Twenty20 duties with the Sydney Sixers with some back soreness,” team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said in a news release.
“Because of his age and past history we decided to investigate the source of the pain and unfortunately he has an early stage stress fracture of his spine, confirmed by scans today.
“Pat had a spine bone stress injury a few years ago but the current injury is new and in an entirely different part of the spine.
“We expect he will recover fully from this injury and will be closely monitored to determine his return to the playing field, but expect that he will miss most of the 2012-13 domestic cricket season.”
Cummins burst onto the international scene in sensational fashion by taking seven wickets on his debut to help Australia beat the Proteas in South Africa last year.
That remains his only Test outing, however, and his appearances in other formats have also been restricted by what looks to be a worrying fragility in his physique.
The fast bowler said he was already scheduled to visit the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) to get his action examined.
“We were talking about going down to the AIS, we were already booked in to have a look at my action while we had time,” Cummins told reporters. AGENCIES
