Shoaib Akhtar has received a two year ban for using nandrolone and Mohammad Asif received a one year ban. Reading between the lines of the PCB press release it appears Asif came clean while Akhtar pleaded not guilty and then failed to convince the Board of his case. Presumably he was unable to provide any of the herbal medicine that he claims caused the failed test result.
Interestingly a two year ban is the minimum ban under the ICC's doping rules, so both Akhtar and Asif have got off lightly. Asif seems to be the luckier of the two, given that part of the PCB statement says that "Pakistan physician Darryn Lifson confirmed he stopped [Asif] from taking a banned substance a few months back." So he was caught and let off without punishment, and then he was caught a second time and given half the minimum penalty. Hmmm, not quite the hard line that the PCB had promised.
Despite the relatively light sentence this is likely to mark the end of Akhtar's career. He will be 33 when the ban is lifted and that is pretty old for the quick bowler. Asif is only 23 and still looks to have a future in the game.
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