IPL rejects PCB request over Mohammad Asif Ban

he Indian Premier League (IPL) today rejected the request of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to advance the date of commencement of the one-year ban imposed on pacer Mohammad Asif for returning a positive dope test from September 23 to July 15, 2008.

"We have received a request from the PCB to prepone the ban on Asif from September 23 to July 15, 2008. We cannot do so. The ban was imposed by the IPL Drug Tribunal comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Dr Ravi Bapat and Shirish Gupte," said IPL Chairman Lalit Modi at a media conference here.

Modi explained that Asif had the option to go in for an appeal against the ban, imposed for one year by the IPL Tribunal for testing positive for banned drug Nandrolone in the first season of the League, but chose not to do so.

"I do not know why the ban was imposed for one year. He could have appealed against it and then the Appeals Tribunal would have looked into it. He did not do so. The ban stays from September 23, 2008," he said.

Modi said he presumed that the commencement of the ban was fixed from September 23 as Asif had asked for his 'B' sample too to be tested for the banned drug and it was done only in September. PTI

Mohammad Asif Banned For one Year In Indian premier League

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif has been banned for one year from the lucrative Indian Premier League for testing positive for nandrolone during last year's inaugural tournament.

"Mohammad Asif was found guilty by the IPL drug tribunal in as much as a prohibited substance namely Nandrolone was found in the urine sample extracted from the player during the support period and the match played on May 30th 2008 between the Delhi Daredevils and the Rajasthan Royals at Mumbai," the IPL's three-man anti-doping tribunal said in a statement published Wednesday by Cricinfo.com.

Asif will be ineligible for IPL until Sept. 21, ruling him out of the second season of the Twenty20 competition.

Asif had earlier asked to be released from his contract with IPL franchise the Delhi Daredevils while he challenged the charges. His appeal had been delayed several times.

He appealed against the results of the doping tests because the A and B samples showed different levels of Nandrolone, which he claimed was contained in eye drops he'd been using to treat a sore eye.

Asif was embroiled in another drug controversy last year, being detained in the United Arab Emirates for 19 days in June after 0.24 grams of opium were found in his wallet at Dubai Airport during a stop over on his way home from the IPL competition.

The Pakistan Cricket Board had suspended Asif from playing domestic and international cricket pending the IPL decision.

He is likely to miss the upcoming limited-overs series against Australia and the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June