Pakistan plan dope tests for players

In the wake of the scandal surrounding Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif Pakistan are planning to drug-test all their players © Getty Images

Pakistan are planning to conduct dope tests on all 30 members of their provisional World Cup squad.

The news is not unexpected, after the recent furore surrounding their two fast bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar, who were originally banned from cricket after testing positive for nandrolone, but had their sentences overturned on appeal.

According to The Dawn newspaper, the Pakistan Cricket Board has instructed its medical panel to obtain relevant kits from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Malaysia. A PCB official said: "Instructions have been issued to the medical panel doctors to prepare for the tests which will be carried out before the World Cup because we don't want to take any chances before such a major tournament."

Pakistan must submit their final 15-man squad on February 13, but it would only be possible for the tests to be carried out after the team finishes its current tour of South Africa.

"But we will get the results before the team leaves for the (World Cup) tournament," the official continued.

"We want to take precautionary measures ourselves and also reaffirm our commitment to a zero-tolerance policy towards any kind of drugs in sports."

The paper also speculates that the PCB might send officials to South Africa to conduct Tests on Akhtar and Asif, due to concerns that nandrolone might remain in their bodies by the time the World Cup is played and they could be targeted for random tests in the tournament by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and WADA agents.