Pakistan appeal doping ban for 'naive' Yasir

The Pakistan Cricket Board will appeal against leg-spinner Yasir Shah's provisional suspension for an anti-doping code violation, claiming he mistakenly took his wife's blood pressure medication.

Shah tested positive for the banned substance chlortalidone after a random test during Pakistan's one-day international series against England in the United Arab Emirates in November.

Chlortalidone is a diuretic that treats high blood pressure and is banned as it can be used as a masking agent. It appears on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list.

PCB chairman Shahryar Khan said the board would not ask to have Yasir's B sample tested, and will instead file an appeal against his suspension citing a genuine mistake.

"We are confident that he didn't do it intentionally. He is a very naive guy and took that medicine out of ignorance," said Shahryar.

"Yasir's family has high blood pressure problem and his uncles have suffered strokes and heart attacks due to it. He gets similar fears so whenever he suffers from high blood pressure he takes some tablets.

"Yasir's wife coincidentally is also a blood pressure patient and he mistakenly used her tablet without knowing that it contained a banned substance.

"The initial details we received regarding the medicine he had taken were incomplete. Now we have received the full details and our doctors have decided against asking for a sample B test.

"We are instead preparing to file an appeal on behalf of Yasir and expecting a lenient punishment as he used the medicine without any wrong intention."

Under the International Cricket Council's Anti-Doping Code, Yasir will remain provisionally suspended pending the outcome of the disciplinary process. He faces a ban of up to four years under the code.

Quick Single: Yasir charged and suspended for doping violation

Yasir, 29, is Pakistan's highest-ranked Test bowler and has been a major reason behind the country's success in the longer format in the past 18 months.

He made his Test debut against Australia in 2014 and took 12 wickets in his maiden series to help Pakistan win both Tests. In June 2015, during a series against Sri Lanka, he became the quickest Pakistan bowler to take 50 wickets in Tests, reaching the mark in just nine games.

As recently as November he was named player of the series as Pakistan beat England 2-0 in a three-Test series in the UAE, drawing a Test Yasir was absent from with injury.

On December 27, the ICC provisionally suspended him for breaching its anti-doping code.

It was not first time in the recent history that an international Pakistan player has tested positive for a prohibited substance.

Last year the PCB banned left-arm spinner Raza Hasan for two years after a test conducted during a domestic tournament revealed the presence of benzoylecgonine in his body. He is ineligible to play any form of cricket until March 2017.

In 2012, another Pakistan left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman tested positive for cannabinoid, a recreational drug, while playing county cricket in England. He was handed 12-week ban by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

In 2009, the Indian Premier League banned Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif for one year for taking steroids during the league's inaugural edition. A year before, in June 2008, the same bowler was detained in Dubai for 19 days on his way back from the IPL for carrying 0.24 grams of opium in his wallet.  

Asif and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for nandrolone, another prohibited substance, just before the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 in India. Both bowlers were immediately suspended and sent home. The PCB banned Asif for a year and Akhtar for two years but a month later the bans were lifted and both bowlers returned when Pakistan toured South Africa in January 2007.

November 5 Flashback: Yasir Shah has produced a remarkable ball that has drawn comparison to Shane Warne's 'ball of the century' against England

FREE OFFER: Get an Optus Live Pass to stream every ball of the MCG and SCG Tests (and BBL matches) for FREE until midnight January 9. Click here or on the image below.