“He mistakenly used her tablet without knowing that it contained a banned substance”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) believe that leg-spinner Yasir Shah tested positive for a banned substance after he accidentally took his wife’s blood pressure medication.
Shah underwent a random drug test during Pakistan’s ODI series against England in November and the PCB have confirmed that they plan to appeal against his provisional ban, which was enforced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on December 27.
“Yasir’s wife coincidentally is a blood pressure patient and he mistakenly used her tablet without knowing that it contained a banned substance,” PCB chairman Shahryar Khan was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. “We are confident that he didn’t do it intentionally. He is a very naive guy and took that medicine out of ignorance.
“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.”
Khan made it clear that the PCB will file the appeal as soon as possible in order to ensure Shah will receive a lenient punishment.
“The initial details we received regarding the medicine he had taken were incomplete,” Khan added. “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.”