Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq was banned for four One-Day Internationals for bringing the game into disrepute, the International Cricket Council said on Thursday.
However, he was cleared of ball tampering, the other charge against him at the end of the fourth Test against England at the Oval last month.
"Inzamam has been cleared of ball tampering but was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute. It is a Level 3 offence and he has been banned for four ODIs with immediate effect," ICC spokesperson James Fitzerald said.
Inzamam has 24 hours to make an appeal against the verdict that was given after a Code of Conduct hearing by ICC chief Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle at The Oval in London.
Should his appeal be overturned, he will miss the Champions Trophy, to be held in India from October 7 to November 5.
The ICC has allowed Pakistan to field a replacement for Inzamam in the squad, which is now most likely to be led by Younis Khan.
The charges against Inzamam were made by umpires Darrell Hair of Australia and Billy Doctrove of the West Indies after Pakistan were deemed to have forfeited the Oval Test.
Hair had penalised the team five runs for ball tampering on the fourth day of the match and Pakistan protested by refusing to take the field after tea.
With Inzamam being given a clean chit on the ball tampering charge, a question mark hangs on the fate of controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair, who laid the charges along with his West Indian counterpart, Billy Doctrove.
Hair has not officiated in any match since the Oval fiasco and it remains to be seen whether the ICC names him in the panel of umpires for the Champions Trophy.
Both the umpires were among the 11 witnesses who gave evidence during the hearing.
The other witnesses were fourth umpire Trevor Jesty, match referee Mike Procter, ICC's referees and umpires manager Doug Cowie, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer and three experts for the defence -- Geoffrey Boycott, Simon Hughes and John Hampshire.
The PCB, which had all along denied the ball tampering charge, saw the verdict as a huge victory for the country and has also indicated that it would go for an appeal.
