PCB constitutes new panel to hear banned bowlers' appeal

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board has constituted a new three-member panel to hear the appeals of fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif against their doping ban.

The panel will be headed by Justice Fakhruddin Ibrahim and include former Test cricketer Hasib Ahsan and a doctor, who is to be named later, PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf said.

The new Committee will announce its verdict within seven days of hearing the appeals of the bowlers, who were banned by a Pakistan Cricket Board-appointed drug tribunal, headed by barrister Shahid Hamid.

Shoaib was banned for two years and Asif for one after they tested positive for a banned steroid in a dope test conducted by the PCB before the Champions Trophy.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Supreme Court has declined to admit a petition filed by one Iqbal Haider challenging the verdict of the drug tribunal to ban the two bowlers.

Haider claimed that the panel had no locus standi and could not ban the players but the apex court returned the petition saying that it did not fall in the category of violation of fundamental rights.