SNGPL's Imran Butt receives three-month ban for doping

Right-handed batsman accepts sanction, denies committing act willing

KARACHI: Under Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) anti-doping rules, a three-month period of ineligibility has been imposed on SNGPL batsman Imran Butt pursuant to his request for an “Agreed Sanction”.

Butt was provisionally suspended after a prohibited substance was found in the A sample collected from him during an in-competition doping test during the 2017 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

“He was charged with two anti-doping violations of the PCB rules,” the PCB press release read. “Butt accepts that he has committed the violations, but not intentionally and with no intent to cheat.”

Meanwhile, the Agreed Sanction reads: “A period of Ineligibility of three months shall be imposed. The period of the provisional suspension shall be credited against the total period of ineligibility, such that the period of Ineligibility shall expire at midnight on February 6, 2018.”

Butt was recently picked by Pakistan Super League franchise Lahore Qalandars from the Emerging category.

PCB chairman Najam Sethi also commented on the development saying: “PCB has a zero tolerance policy towards doping in cricket and hopes, that in future, cricketers will exercise utmost care to ensure that no Prohibited Substance enters their bodies.”