Osman Samiuddin on reactions from Pakistan on the doping episode
Osman Samiuddin18-Oct-2006
A local newspaper alleged that Shoaib had delayed his testing and had ended up giving it a day later than his colleagues © Getty Images
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will have its drugs tribunal to investigate charges of doping against Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif in place by the end of this week. But as the Islamic festival of Eid is scheduled to begin early next week, it appears unlikely any conclusion will be reached until, at the earliest, late next week.The tribunal will comprise three people; a former Test cricketer – thought by many to be Intikhab Alam – an eminent lawyer and a sports doctor. Both Shoaib and Asif are expected to plead their innocence to the charges; in a meeting yesterday with PCB officials they denied taking any performance-enhancing steroids willingly. Dr Naseem Ashraf, the PCB chairman, has repeatedly asserted that both will be given a fair trial and be allowed a full opportunity to defend themselves but also that the board has a zero-tolerance policy towards doping. If found guilty, both players could face a two-year ban.While Asif has remained largely silent on the issue – he did tell reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore that not being a tearaway fast bowler, he had no need to use steroids – Shoaib has had his innocence defended with more vigour. He initially publicly denied any wrongdoing on bigstarcricket.com. His personal doctor, Dr Tauseef Razzak has also argued that Shoaib was using herbal medicines for various injuries, which might explain the presence of nandrolone in his samples.Razzak told Reuters, “After undergoing surgery in Australia and subsequent treatment for the stress fracture, Shoaib has been seeing a (doctor). It is a possibility that nandrolone was mixed in herbal medicines that he has been taking. He has been tested before during ICC events but has never tested positive.”Cricinfo has also learnt that Shoaib had been granted permission from the ICC to use Ventolin inhalers for his asthma condition. The inhalers are thought to contain a small amount of steroids though not nandrolone.One local newspaper also claimed that Shoaib had delayed his testing and had ended up giving it a day later than his colleagues.Pakistan, meanwhile, is slowly coming to terms with what has happened. Leading newspapers carried editorials on the doping scandal. Karachi-based , with customary balance, said the latest scandal “had the potential to debilitate the side for months to come,” and that the team “would have to live with a brand new taint.” It also reminded readers, however, that the possibility still existed that the two players had unwittingly taken the substance. put on a brave face, enthusiastically championing the PCB’s bravery in handling the situation publicly while also arguing that “Pakistan cricket is strong enough to weather such storms.”With monotonous predictability, two ex-captains, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, have slammed the PCB’s handling of the matter. Imran questioned the timing of the tests and asked why they could not have been taken earlier, thus preventing Pakistan the trouble of pulling out the two just one day before their opening match.Miandad blamed Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, arguing that it was his responsibility to make sure players knew what they were taking. “Woolmer has a battery of assistants, there are so many doctors on the PCB panel, they should also be investigated because players don’t know what medicines they are taking.”Fans are still in shock. One US-based reader wrote in to a newspaper saying, “I have been walking around all day feeling like someone has punched me in the gut and I am finding it extremely hard to recover from it.” One cricket-mad mother expressed similar angst, though quickly argued that “it must be a PCB-conspiracy to get rid of Shoaib.”Above all, as one follower put it, the gravity of what has happened is sinking in. “We can laugh off the captaincy changes and board changes. ‘ (‘This stuff keeps happening). But drug charges? That is really serious.’ As we will see, no doubt, over the coming week.
