Re: Asif and Shoaib to appeal
Doping bans for fast bowlers a ‘disaster’ for Pakistan cricket, ex-players say
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The doping bans handed down to top fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif are a disaster for Pakistan cricket, already reeling from controversies that have hurt its chances in next year’s World Cup, ex-players said Thursday.
A Pakistan Cricket Board tribunal on Wednesday handed a two-year ban to paceman Akhtar — the first player in cricket to bowl over 100 mph (160 kph) — and a one-year ban to rising star Asif, after they both tested positive for the banned steroid Nandrolone.
The punishments — the harshest yet for doping in world cricket — could threaten the international prospects of the 31-year old Akhtar, who in an eventful career has also battled injury problems and faced questions over the legitimacy of his whirlwind bowling action.
Akhtar’s physician Tauseef Razzaq told Pakistan’s private Geo television that Akhtar would file an appeal against the ban and insisted he had tested positive because of having a high protein diet and using herbal medicines, which are not banned.
The tribunal, however, reported that Akhtar had failed to specify the vitamin supplements he had been taking, and when asked who had prescribed the herbal medicines he had been taking, said “he had been getting them from his friends.”
The verdicts cap a torrid few months for the Pakistan team, which was forced to forfeit a test match against England at The Oval this summer when the side refused to take the field after it was accused of ball tampering — charges it was later cleared of.
Regular captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was subsequently banned for four limited-overs internationals on charges of bringing the game into disrepute.
The team has also weathered squabbles over the captaincy and the resignation of cricket board chairman Shaharyar Khan.
Sarfraz Nawaz, who spearheaded the country’s pace attack in the 1970s, said the Pakistan board had no choice but to impose the ban following the verdict of the three-man independent tribunal, but said it was a body blow to the struggling national side.
“It’s a disaster for Pakistan cricket. As we have seen in the ICC Champions Trophy, without these two bowlers Pakistan are scrambled, they finished nowhere,” Nawaz said. “Their hopes of contention in the World Cup, of reaching the semis or final are very remote now.”
Former skipper Rashid Latif criticized the bans as harsh, and called for them to be halved on appeal.
“A two-year ban is too much. Shane Warne got one year before the last World Cup,” he said, referring to the Australian leg-spinner who was banned in 2003 for taking a banned diuretic. “Pakistan traditionally has a good fast bowling attack. Now we don’t have any in the side.”
The International Cricket Council on Thursday praised the tough action of the Pakistan board.
“The PCB has done extremely well in handling this matter in such an efficient manner and its strong stand against doping is a fine precedent,” ICC president Percy Sonn said in a statement.
But the board itself was chided by the doping tribunal.
“We are not entirely satisfied with the manner in which PCB has advised and cautioned its players with regard to prohibited substances,” the tribunal said in its 19-page written verdict.
“We have found much ‘passing of the buck’ between the various PCB officials who have appeared before us. We are firmly of the view that PCB needs to have a qualified and experienced sports doctor whenever the team is on tour abroad,” it said.
Nawaz and Latif both lambasted the Pakistan board, saying it was managed by bureaucrats with little knowledge of the game. But another former Pakistan skipper and coach, Javed Miandad, said that while he “felt sorry” for Akhtar and Asif, he backed the board’s decision.
“Players are heroes and ambassadors, and they should act like that and play like gentlemen cricketers,” said the former star batsman.