PCB says Ahmed Shehzad has failed dope test, ban looms

Pic courtesy: Reuters

The Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Tuesday that it will issue a charge sheet to Ahmed Shehzad after he was tested positive for consumption of a banned substance. 

As per ICC rules, the batsman will be suspended from taking part in any form of cricket once PCB serves him a notice. Shehzad will be provided with 14 days to answer charges against him. 

PCB took to Twitter to issue a statement 

Independent Review Board Report on doping case has been received by PCB. Cricketer Ahmad Shahzad has tested positive for a banned substance. PCB will issue charge sheet today.

— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) July 10, 2018

According to a report in DAWN, Shehzad was tested positive in Pakistan but the country’s cricket governing body, as per ICC rules, refrained from naming the senior cricketer and sent the samples to an Indian lab for confirmation. The results were reportedly delayed as the reports from India had arrived late - on June 9. 

Earlier in June, the governing body had said in a tweet that a player had tested positive in a dope test but had withheld his name.

A player has reportedly tested positive for a prohibited substance. But under ICC rules PCB cannot name the player or chargesheet him until the chemical report is CONFIRMED by the Anti-Dope Agency of the government. We should have an answer in a day or two.

— PCB Media (@TheRealPCBMedia) June 20, 2018

The 26-year-old had failed to cement his spot in the national team after being inconsistent in recent years. He could muster only 38 runs against minnows Scotland in a two-match T20I series in June. The batsman was later dropped for the tri-series against Australia and Zimbabwe. 

Shehzad is hardly the first Pakistani cricketer to face PCB’s ire for having failed a dope test.

Left-arm spinner Raza Hasan was banned for two years after failing a dope test in 2012. Yasir Shah and Abdur Rehman too had received temporary bans in 2016 and 2012, respectively.