Asif named as IPL’s drug cheat

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif tested positive for a banned substance during random testing at the Indian Premier League, the IPL said Monday, but the paceman quickly proclaimed his innocence.

The announcement, the latest in a series of shocks for Pakistani cricket, comes a month after the 25-year-old Asif was seized at Dubai airport while returning from IPL play on charges of possession of opium.

The lanky seamer from Sheikhupura faces a ban from future editions of the IPL and possible punishment from the Pakistan board if all tests go against him.

IPL officials had revealed late Sunday that a league player had failed a drugs test but did not identify him, saying they first had to investigate whether the cricketer had been granted exemption on that particular substance.

The nature of the banned substance has not been disclosed. “The Indian Premier League confirms the player in violation is Mohammad Asif,” the IPL finally said in a statement on Monday.

Asif played for the Delhi Daredevils team in the IPL, a lucrative Twenty20 tournament that ran from April 18-June 1 and featured the world’s top players.

“I am shocked and surprised because I was extra cautious and never used any banned substances,” Asif told AFP in Lahore.

“I don’t know what to do. I will decide the next course of action only after consultation with the PCB,” he added.

Officials compared data collected by IDTM, the Sweden-based independent agency which organised testing in accordance with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) standards, with the result from a WADA-approved lab in Switzerland.

“It was also checked if Mr Asif had applied for and was granted a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE),” the IPL statement said. “It was found that Mr. Asif had not applied for a TUE.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had been informed of Asif’s positive test and it was up to him to decide if he wanted his ‘B’ sample to be tested, the statement added.

Asif’s case will be referred to the IPL’s three-member Drugs Tribunal that includes former India captain Sunil Gavaskar once the results of the ‘B’ sample are known.

Last month, Asif was detained for 19 days before being deported by police in Dubai, who said the quantity of illegal drugs found was “insignificant.”

NEW DELHI, AFP