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Pakistan will be allowed to replace any player in their World Cup squad who fail drugs tests this month.

The provisional 30 will be tested to avoid a repeat of last year’s furore with Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. The duo tested positive for nandrolone before last November’s Champions Trophy but their bans were lifted on appeal.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against that decision by a Pakistan cricket tribunal.

Shoaib was banned for two years and Asif for one year last November but the tribunal agreed with their argument that they had taken supplements believing they did not contain any prohibited substances.

Under Wada’s strict liability rules athletes are responsible for any substances they take.

In the meantime, the Pakistan Cricket Board says all 30 will be tested when the squad returns home from South Africa next week. If any of the final 15-man line-up, which must be announced by 13 February, fail tests they will be thrown out.

Pakistan were allowed to replace Shoaib and Asif in the Champions Trophy by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“We have got clarification from the International Cricket Council (ICC) on this issue,” Saleem Altaf, the PCB’s director of cricket operations, said.

“Replacements will be allowed under the ‘special circumstances’ clause of the World Cup participating nations agreement. “We want to be sure we have no problems on this front in the tournament,” he added.

Source:The News