Controversial Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar , who was handed a five-year ban by PCB, breathed a huge sigh of relief on Sunday when the appellate tribunal of the Pakistan Cricket Board decided to suspend the ban on him for a month so that he could be free to play in the Indian Premier League.

PCB sources were quoted in the media as saying that the tribunal had accepted Shoaib's application to suspend the ban for one month and allow him to play in the IPL, which ends on June 1.

The IPL had disallowed Shoaib’s inclusion in the cash-rich league despite the tribunal's decision earlier this week to allow him play outside Pakistan, but then the ban was still applicable on the Rawalpindi Express.