Ban on Shoaib and Asif overturned

Cricinfo - Shoaib and Asif acquitted


Shoaib and Asif acquitted


Osman Samiuddin
December 5, 2006


Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been acquitted by the tribunal appointed to review their appeals against the drugs ban imposed on them by an earlier committee. The three-man committee, headed by Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, voted two to one in favour of the acquittal. Haseeb Ahsan, former Test cricketer, and Ebrahim were in favour of the acquittal while the third member, Danish Zaheer, dissented.
"This appeal committee holds that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif will not be deemed to have committed a doping offence," Ibrahim told reporters in Karachi. "The ban and punishment imposed by the earlier tribunal is hereby set aside as being contrary to the provision of laws."
A 30-page plus judgement released by the committee detailed the reasons for their decision and though they are extensive, one significant theme that emerges from it is problems with the workings of the previous committee.
In particular, concern has been raised over the fact that while the original body was constituted to work within the guidelines of the PCB's anti-doping policy, the punishment it decreed - and the benchmarks it derived them from - were based on the ICC's anti-doping regulations.
The ruling concludes that both players were able to prove 'exceptional circumstances', in that neither was fully aware of the substances they were taking. Crucially, it points out that 'exceptional circumstances', as defined by the PCB and the ICC were signficantly different and that while the previous committee used ICC's definition of the term, it was bound to use the PCB's.
The role of the PCB in ensuring their players were not only fully aware of banned substances but also understood the literature that they had been provided has also been highlighted in the report. "It is plainly evident that neither Shoaib Akhtar nor Mohammad Asif were ever warned or cautioned against taking supplements," the judgement reads.
"Hence, this committee is of the considered view that both players have successfully established that they held an honest and reasonable belief that the supplements ingested by them did not contain any prohibited substances."

Goru dosto nice info thanks.AMi o ak kale paki er supporter chilam akhon ar nai..

Sunlam beche gese... valo valo

good to hear they off da hook

besh valo lagce Shune ...... really nice ..... tnkx bro

ha,ora balo player chilo.na buija drugs nise.ekhon bujche.ar korbe na.i hope they will dominate the 3 matches remaining for them to play in the odi series against west indies

Are baccha manush ... Vul kore ekta kichu kheye felse ... Ei jonno evabe sasti deya kokhonoi ucit chilo nah ... Ora ki aar jene shune khaise naki ... LoL ...

Its totally nonsense
if they escape i suggest we shud all use drug
anti drug law shud be destroyed then
i hate them
they says
ami ki janbo drug ki ami to misti bheve khaisilam

Ashraf bro marattok bolchen hehe cool but apner sig ta to sundor .

Hahah Ashfar bhai ... Kharap bolen nai ... But ki aar kora ... Player manush ... Ek bar vul kore felse ... Arekbar na korlei hobe ... LoL ...