As expected, everyone and their mother begins slamming lifting of doping ban

“If I'm walking into a shit storm I want to know which way the wind's blowing”...wise words from Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) in Spy Games. After I wasted 8$ on that movie, this line was probably the only thing that I cared to remember from that crappy film. Somehow or the other, while I was reading all the posts, blogs, and opinion commentaries this morning....the quote came to me and I felt it was quite appropriate for the current situation.

The PCB, which has really bungled one thing after another this year, must have expected this storm...don't know if they knew the direction of the wind though! They can't be that naive, can they?. But they are getting slammed left, right, and center, and rightly so. Their credibility is tarnished and the entire process is nothing but a joke now. My thoughts on this verdict are presented below and were published yesterday...

The Australian boasts a sports headline entitled "Pakistan plays by own rules"...

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appears to have played the cricket world off a break after an appeals board reversed the drug bans of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

As unjust and embarrassing as this decision appears, the PCB can, not for the first time, continue to thumb its nose at the game with impunity because of cricket's shambolic structure.

The article argues that..

At the very least the cricketers should have been forced to prove how the banned substance entered their bodies. This is a prerequisite for a reduction of the sanction under the "exceptional circumstances" rule.

If the bans against Shoaib and Asif are not reinstated then, a little more than a month after the ICC sacked umpire Darrell Hair in disgraceful circumstances and agreed to re-admit pariah Zimbabwe into the Test arena next year, the cricket world will be left without credibility. Yet again.

Well, that parting shot about Hairgate is understandable from an Australian paper. Though the public may differ, Pakistan's daily's weren't too ecstatic. As reported by the IndiaTimes...

"Regardless of a split decision among the three-member review panel that heard their appeals, both Shoaib and Asif have in fact been proved to have taken a banned substance. No review panel in the world can change that fact," an editorial in 'The Post' said.

In the hard-hitting editorial, titled "A strange let-off", it said if the decision of the tribunal was driven by subjective reasons rather than hard evidence, why did they not assign any weight to the pride of Pakistan cricket that would be damaged by fielding two established dope cheaters.

"A nation's pride is much more valuable than the pride of any individual. If by some miracle, Pakistan can win the World Cup utilizing two druggies, will it add to the pride of our nation," it wondered. In a special article, 'The Nation' ridiculed Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Dr. Naseem Ashraf for singing different tunes.

"In what is tantamount to a most stunning total reversal, the tribunal reviewing the appeals of Pakistan's pace spearheads in its verdict has acquitted the duo, overturning the one and two year bans respectively imposed by a PCB tribunal only 34 days ago," it said.

The decision may come as a huge relief for the Pakistan cricket team but the risks of "disgrace" by bringing the two back could be great, it said.

The most important and influential player in this process might probably be WADA, the World Anti Doping Agency. From Reuters...

WADA official Frederic Donze told a Pakistani newspaper that the appeals commission's decision appeared to be unreasonable and a violation of the international anti-doping code.

"We have decided to take up the matter with the ICC. My personal view is that the decision taken by the Pakistan Cricket Board panel is unreasonable," Donze was quoted as saying in The News on Wednesday. Donze said WADA would first look into the decision of the tribunal before making further comments.

On the other end of the spectrum, Brian Lara, who is currently in Pakistan urged people to not jump to conclusions...

West Indies captain Brian Lara urged respect on Wednesday for a decision by the Pakistan Cricket Board to clear bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif of doping and said he hoped there would not be a negative reaction. "We must respect the decision of the Pakistan board. They are people of integrity in there," Lara told a news conference before the second one-day international on Thursday. "I just hope that the negativity surrounding this case does not spiral into anything else," he said.

As far as the ICC goes, Percy Sonn said...

"..the judgment of an appellate tribunal to revoke the bans imposed hardly a month ago showed that there were "inconsistencies" in Pakistan's anti-doping process.

"The judgment highlights inconsistencies in the Pakistan Cricket Board's anti-doping processes and regulations," Sonn said in a statement.

"Cricket has taken significant strides forward in addressing the important issue of drug use in our sport. However, this judgment emphasizes that much more work needs to be done to educate players and to synchronize our Members' efforts to attain a totally drug-free sport," he said.

The under-fire PCB chairman Nasib Ashraf was firmly standing by the appeals process, with WADA chief Dick Pound disagreeing....

Nasib Ashraf, PCB chairman, said after the appeal panel's decision that neither the ICC nor WADA could overturn the Akhtar and Asif verdict. "The ICC or WADA cannot intervene because the doping tests were conducted out of competition by the PCB, and the chapter is now closed," Ashraf said.

WADA head Dick Pound disagreed with the appeal panel's assertion that the players should have been warned. "No, it's quite clear that if you are an international athlete, you've got to be aware of the risks," Pound said. "You don't get any points for saying someone forgot to warn me."

Well...the next step seems to be fresh doping tests for both these players...Lets see where we go from there.