ICC provisionally suspends Yasir Shah after leg-spinner fails dope Test: Yasir Shah, the leggie from Pakistan has been provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council for breaching their Anti-Doping code. He was tested positive for a banned substance. A sample taken from Yasir during the series against England in UAE, was found to contain chlortalidone, which appears in Section 5 of the WADA prohibited list of diuretics and masking agents.
The No.4 bowler in Tests currently cannot play or get involved in any international match since he is provisionally suspended. Yasir Shah & the Pakistan Cricket Board now can request sample B to be tested, and if that test’s result is negative then the suspension will be lifted with immediate effect. If the B sample also tests positive then Pakistan’s leading bowler currently faces the possibility of a four-year ban.
The drug that has invited trouble to Yasir is a diuretic, but is also used to hide the presence of other performance-enhancing drugs, such as steroids and also as a masking agent for other recreational drugs, according to sports medicine experts.
An ICC statement read: “The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that Pakistan’s bowler Yasir Shah has been charged with an anti-doping rule violation under the ICC Anti-Doping Code.”
Yasir has so far taken 76 wickets in 12 Tests and became the fastest to complete 50 wickets in nine Tests – a record for Pakistan. He has also played 15 one-day internationals and two T20Is after making his debut in 2011. He is fourth in the list of leading wicket takers in 2015 Tests (49) which is 13 behind the leader Ravichandran Ashwin.
PCB’s chief selector Haroon Rasheed said that the provisional suspension imposed on leg spinner Yasir Shah by the ICC is a huge setback for the national team ahead of the upcoming New Zealand tour.
Haroon Rasheed: “You wake up every day and faced with a new problem in Pakistan cricket. We now have to revise all our plans for the coming events. As per ICC rules, a process would be followed now but at this time all we know is that he is provisionally banned and is most probably out of the tour to New Zealand.”
