PCB suspends Asif, Akhtar included in probables list

Pakistan Cricket Board suspended beleaguered pacer Mohammad Asif for flunking the dope test during the IPL.

Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday suspended beleaguered pacer Mohammad Asif for flunking the dope test during the Indian Premier League and promised to extend all help to IPL Drugs Tribunal in its enquiry into the matter.

PCB Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Nagmi said the Board would implement the findings of the IPL Drugs Truibunal on the issue.

“We have suspended Asif though he will have the right to appeal under ICC Anti-doping regulations,” Nagmi told reporters.

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“PCB will offer all the assistance to IPL Drugs Tribunal and implement its findings and can even attend the enquiry proceedings,” he said in the presence of Board lawyer Tafazzul Rizvi.

He said the Board had received the communication of Asif’s positive dope test on Monday.

Shoaib is back

Controversal fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been included in Pakistan’s provisional 30-member squad for the Champions Trophy, while Asif has been dropped.

Asif was suspended by the PCB for testing positive in a dope test during the recent Indian Premier League and has therefore been ignored from the squad.

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Akhtar, who has also been in the news of late, was allowed by a Pakistani court to play cricket again after suspending the 18-month ban imposed on him by the PCB for indiscipline.

The list of probables: Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul Haq, Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Khalid Latif, Ahmed Shahad, Khurrum Manzoor, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Bazid Khan, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanveer, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Arafat, Mansoor Amjad, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Mohammad Ali, Rao Iftikhar, Sohail Khan, Abdur Rauf, Wahab Riaz, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Amir, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal.