The colourful career of Mohammad Asif took another twist yesterday when the results of a B sample confirmed he tested positive for nandrolone during the Indian Premier League. Asif's lawyer Shahid Karim confirmed the results but claimed discrepancies between the A and B samples could form the basis of an appeal. "We have just completed the test on the B sample of Asif's urine which has come back positive," Karim said.
"But I can tell you that the quantity of nandrolone has varied, which we can contest." Asif's future is now in the hands of the IPL's drugs tribunal, and a two-year ban is most likely under the ICC's anti-doping code, which the IPL have adopted. The Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Shafqat Naghmi said the PCB would endorse any decision the IPL take on Asif. No stranger to controversy, this latest chapter puts the talented 25-year-old paceman's future in serious doubt. In Nov 2006, he was found to have taken nandrolone after failing internal PCB drug tests.
Asif, along with compatriot Shoaib Akhtar, were handed bans of one and two years respectively by the PCB in November, which were later overturned on appeal.Asif returned in 2007, but he got involved in an altercation prior to the World Twenty20, during which he was struck with a bat by Shoaib. Despite an elbow injury slowing the pace of his deliveries, Asif was drafted into the IPL with the Delhi Daredevils.
In June this year, he was detained by authorities in Dubai airport for 19 days after a powder was found in his wallet. * PA Sport