Shoaib Akhtar's five-year ban has been reduced to 18 months by a Pakistan Cricket Board appeals tribunal.

The 32-year-old was handed the original sanction for repeated violations of the PCB's code of conduct while on a two-year probation for attacking team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat in the dressing room at last September's World Twenty20.

But the appeals tribunal, held in Karachi on Saturday, unanimously agreed the punishment was too harsh.

"The tribunal has taken the decision with a clear conscience and under no pressure from either the board or anyone else," said tribunal head Justice Aftab Farrukh, who was joined on the three-man panel by former Test cricketer Haseeb Ahsen and Naveed Chaudhry.

"We also took into consideration the past record of Shoaib and that he had publicly apologised for his behaviour and past deeds.

"He has promised to reform himself and we have also recommended to the board that he should be given proper counselling."

Shoaib may yet pursue a further appeal against the 18-month ban, with his lawyer Abid Hasan Minto commenting: "We will take a decision after going through the long and detailed order of the tribunal."

The ban applies to all cricket in Pakistan.