Shoaib banned after hitting Asif

Shoaib Akhtar has been banned for 13 games by the Pakistan Cricket Board over an incident in which he struck team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat.

The seamer was sent home from the World Twenty20 in South Africa and has also been fined £28,000 after an inquiry.

The ban has been backdated to the South Africa tournament so he will only sit out four more international games.

However, he has been warned that any more misdemeanours will mean the end of his career at the highest level.

"If he is found guilty of any act of indiscipline, he faces a life ban," said PCB disciplinary committee chairman Shafqat Naghmi.

Naghmi said the 32-year-old had been found guilty of three charges relating to the Asif incident: hitting a team-mate, accusing another player, Shahid Afridi, of involvement, and holding a news conference on his return from South Africa.

The committe also found against him on two other charges of missing a training camp in August in order to play a charity match in England and publicly criticising the PCB.

I have been going through a nightmare for the last four weeks Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib previously insisted he had accidentally struck Asif, who he claimed had intervened in a row with Afridi.

Now the "Rawalpindi Express" says he accepts his punishment and is eager to play again for his country at the first available opportunity, which Naghmi said would be the tour of India in November.

"I have suffered enough, it was all in the heat of the moment and I'll make sure to be extra careful in the future," Shoaib said.

"I have already apologised to Asif, to the whole nation and the PCB, now I just want to move on and concentrate on playing cricket for Pakistan.

"I have been going through a nightmare for the last four weeks and whatever happened I just don't want to even recall it."

Last year Shoaib and Asif tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Champions Trophy and were sent home from the tournament in India.

They were subsequently cleared but Shoaib has played just one Test and four one-dayers in the last 15 months because of fitness and disciplinary problems.

The selectors must now choose whether to save Shoaib for the India tour, to begin from 1 November, or to play him in the final home one-day international against South Africa.