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Pakistan’s decision to drug-test their entire World Cup squad could end in life bans for Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who recently won doping reprieves, an expert warned on Friday.

Danish Zaheer, vice-president of the Asian Federation of Sports Medicine, said the two bowlers could still have banned substances in their systems after testing positive in October.

“To me, it is not the good timing for Shoaib and Asif to have re-tests because if they test positive again, which is likely to happen, then on a second offence they face life bans,” Danish, a doctor, said.

Shoaib and Asif are both likely inclusions when Pakistan’s squad is announced on Tuesday, despite testing positive for banned steroid nandrolone in internal tests conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Shoaib was banned for two years and Asif for one year by an Anti-Doping Commission in November. But a month later, both were controversially reinstated by an appellate committee, prompting the World Anti-Doping Agency to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The CAS, based in Switzerland, is unlikely to hear the case before April.

“The PCB and the athletes should have settled the CAS issue first which would have allowed them to have a suitable line of action in order to avoid double penalty or life ban,” said Danish.

He said Shoaib and Asif should keep away from the World Cup if they want to prolong their careers.

Source:The News