Cricket: Pakistan's Rehman fails drug test, says PCB

KARACHI: Pakistan left-arm spin bowler Abdur Rehman failed a dope test during the English county season while playing for Somerset, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Tuesday.

The PCB has withdrawn Rehman from the Sialkot Stallions squad due to play in the Champions League Twenty20 qualifying tournament in South Africa starting on October 9.

"We have withdrawn Rehman's name from the list after the England and Wales cricket board informed us that he had tested positive in a dope test taken in August after a county match," a senior board official told Reuters.

The official, who declined to be named, said the PCB had sought more details from the ECB and would support any penalty imposed on Rehman.

"Rehman has returned to Pakistan and from what we know his samples came back positive," he added.

The official said that under the rules of the World Anti- Doping Agency the test results were only released to the player and his home board which was the ECB at that time.

The 32-year-old Rehman, who has played 17 tests and 25 one-day internationals, had a successful season for Somerset before returning home. He told a Pakistani TV channel he did not know why he had failed the dope test as he had taken no prohibited substances or drugs.

"I don't know what has happened. I am also in the dark as I don't use medicines or substances," Rehman said.

Sri Lankan opener Upul Tharanga was banned last year for three months after failing a dope test at the 2011 World Cup. Tharanga was given a three-month ban by the International Cricket Council after he appealed that he had unknowingly consumed the banned substance in a herbal remedy for curing an injury problem.

The PCB official said they were still waiting to discuss the issue with Rehman.

Pakistani fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif failed dope tests at the 2006 Champions Trophy. Asif was also banned for five years for spot-fixing and jailed last year for the same offence in the United Kingdom.