Yasir still awaiting formation of ICC tribunal

Spinner’s case pending after he appealed against doping suspension

KARACHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has yet to form an independent tribunal which will hear spinner Yasir Shah’s alleged doping case after the 29-year-old had decided to contest the allegations, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official involved with the case informed The Express Tribune on Wednesday.

Yasir had been suspended from bowling by the ICC after a sample taken from him on November 13 — when Pakistan played an ODI against England in Abu Dhabi — was found to contain chlortalidone, which is on the World Anti-Doping Authority’s prohibited list of diuretics and masking agents.

However, the Swabi-born, who claims the banned substance found in his samples was there because of a pill he took on his wife’s advice to control his blood pressure, is still awaiting the formation of the tribunal, which the ICC had indicated at the time of the appeal — January 10 — would be formed within two weeks.



“We’re still waiting for the formation of an independent tribunal so that Yasir’s case could move forward,” said the PCB official. “Now that it has been contested, the ICC will have to form a tribunal inside 14 days and initiate the summary on their behalf so that the case progresses ahead. It is a difficult situation for Yasir and Pakistan cricket, but we’re hopeful that he would be pardoned as there was no wrongdoing on his part.”

The official further added that even though the explanation that Yasir, an international Test cricketer, took an unprescribed medicine on his wife’s advice may sound comical, it is nothing but the truth.



“It looks a bit foolish when you hear that a Test player would take his wife’s medication but that’s how it is,” he added. “You have to believe it because Yasir has never been found guilty of any such involvement in the past and is an individual who is only focused on his game.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2016.

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