(adds Inzamam quotes, detail)
By Waheed Khan
KARACHI, March 1 - Pakistan pace bowlers Shoaib
Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been ruled out of the World Cup
due to injury, a senior cricket board official said on
Thursday.
The double withdrawal comes just five months after the pair
tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone and banned
by their national board before an appeal panel cleared them to
play again.
Shoaib, who has played only one test and four one-dayers
since February 2006 due to fitness concerns, has not recovered
from the knee injury that forced him to be sent back from South
Africa last month.
Asif has been carrying a niggling elbow problem since that
tour and the pair were receiving treatment in London, but
neither will be fit enough to take part in the tournament in
the Caribbean, which starts on March 13.
"The doctors have said they require at least another three
weeks to make a complete recovery from their injuries. We
couldn't wait for that long," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
chief selector Wasim Bari told reporters.
"Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Sami will be sent as their
replacements."
The loss of the new-ball pair comes as a major setback to
Pakistan's hopes before their opening match against the West
Indies on the first day of the tournament.
Captain Inzamam-ul-uq said his team has not had a perfect
build-up with Shoaib and Asif joining all-rounder Abdul Razzaq
as high-profile withdrawals from the squad.
"Certainly it is not an ideal situation for us. Losing
three experienced players is a big disappointment," Inzamam
said.
"But we just have to manage with the players we have and
they are capable of doing well."
"It is a big blow for us, but I am confident that Yasir
Arafat and Mohammad Sami will live up to the expectations,"
team coach Bob Woolmer said.
"They will join the team in a week's time and we hope to
overcome our injury problems with a united team effort."
TESTED POSITIVE
Shoaib and Asif have faced a number of problems since
testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone last
October in out-of-competition tests carried out by the PCB
before the Champions Trophy in India.
Initially, the 31-year-old Shoaib was banned for two years
and Asif for one year by a drugs inquiry tribunal, but an
appellate panel of the board later exonerated them of doping
charges and lifted the suspensions.
The incident led to the Pakistan board holding in-house
dope tests for the players and reserves in the World Cup squad.
All the players appeared and passed the tests except Shoaib
and Asif, who were being treated for their injuries in Britain.
Sources within the board said the decision to drop the
players on the eve of the team's departure for the West Indies
might have come as a result of an unusually strong statement
about doping issued by the International Cricket Council on
Thursday.
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said that Shoaib and Asif
could face doping tests as soon as they arrived in the
Caribbean for the World Cup.
He also described their continuing to play international
cricket as an embarrassment for the sport.
"The ICC had made it's position very clear and the board
could no longer take a risk of them facing drug problems again
in the World Cup," one source said.
Medical experts say that traces of nandrolone remain the
body for up to six months.
Pakistan media have reported extensively that Shoaib and
Asif went to London to have private drugs tests to confirm if
the substance remained in their bodies before the World Cup.