Doping slur disgraces Cricket; Asif doping confirmed.

NEW DELHI: Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif tested positive for banned substances during this year's Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL), organisers said on Monday.

The 25-year-old Asif returned a positive sample in random tests undertaken by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory, the IPL said in a statement.

"The Indian Premier League compared the result from the WADA-approved laboratory in Switzerland with the data collected by IDTM, the Sweden-based independent agency which organised the anti-doping testing in accordance with WADA standards, to confirm the player in violation is Mohammad Asif," it said.

The lucrative league was organised in April-May. The statement said the bowler, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and his franchise team have been informed and that Asif had not applied for any therapeutic use exemption. It did not mention the drug involved.

Asif has the right to request the B sample result before the case goes to the IPL's three-member drug tribunal of medical and legal experts plus former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar.

The second doping controversy involving Asif could seriously jeopardise the international career of the talented bowler.

Last month, he was detained in Dubai for 19 days while returning from the IPL until authorities dropped charges against him of possessing an illegal drug.

Asif, who has played 11 Tests, said on his return home that he was innocent and had never used drugs or banned substances.

In 2006, Asif and fellow strike bowler Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone when the PCB held tests before the ICC Champions Trophy in India.

They were initially handed one and two-year bans respectively by the PCB's anti-doping commission until the suspension was controversially lifted on appeal.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) tightened its doping laws after WADA made an unsuccessful appeal against the reprieve to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in July.

CAS said it was forced to dismiss the appeal because the PCB did not recognise the court in its regulations.

Source : TOI