February 04, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 15, 1428

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LAHORE, Feb 3: With barely over a month left before the commencement of the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies on March 13, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is yet to make any arrangements for conducting the doping tests of the national players.

According to the critics and analysts of the game, the PCB, due to its negligence in this crucial area, is likely to face a similar situation it experienced last year prior to the ICC Champions Trophy in India when fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were found guilty of taking banned substance Nandrolone.

Though PCB’s chairman, Dr Nasim Ashraf has tried his level best to take the credit for a ‘timely move’ of conducting the dope tests at the time, the fact remains that the board had erred badly since the doping results were received only after the team had reached India.

Both Shoaib and Asif had to be called back on the eve of the ICC Trophy, causing a lot of embarrassment to Pakistan cricket. The two were subsequently banned from international cricket only to be exonerated of the charges a month later by an appellate tribunal in Lahore.

The whole doping episode earned the wrath of the critics and former players who blamed the board for the ill-timed doping tests and the indiscreet handling of the saga.

As things stand today, the national selectors are in the process of finalising the national squad for the World Cup which is likely to be named by Feb 14 in order to meet the ICC deadline of Feb 15.

In this scenario, it will be practically impossible for the board to complete the whole process of doping tests for the mega event since it takes around 10 to 12 days for the procedures to be completed. Unfortunately, the PCB is left with no option but to conduct the tests after the team returns from South Africa on Feb 16, a day after the final squad would already have been sent to the ICC.

In case any player among the World Cup squad tests positive, the PCB will once again be caught in an embarrassing situation, that of replacing the player at a crucial stage besides imposing yet another ban for the offence.

The PCB, therefore, will be well advised to send the doping officials to South Africa to collect the urine samples of the players which will give them ample time to come up with the results prior to the extravaganza in the Caribbeans.

Informed sources have told Dawn that the doping tests of both Shoaib and Asif are now mandatory for the World Cup to ascertain if either of them still have any traces of nandrolone in their bodies.

According to experts, all medicines used for washing away the banned susbstance also fall in the category of ‘offences’ and the players doing so would be liable to face yet another ban of one or more years.

Meanwhile, the sources in the PCB have confirmed that doping tests of Pakistan players will only be held after the team returns from South Africa.