What a farce! Ban for Shoaib and Asif overturned

Is this a joke? Barely a month after the PCB slaps bans on Shoaib and Asif, their appeals tribunal overturns them. This is ridiculous. The entire cricketing world is laughing at us. These is no way that they will be willing to accept this verdict, especially since the PCB paraded them as guilty and left them out to dry. This whole process stinks of incompetence, with the powers-that-be, possibly protecting the star players of the national team. There is no doubt in my mind that the initial verdict was hasty. As my colleague in the blogging world points out, there seemed to be a rush to decision making by the PCB.

They rushed to judgment, and now the country looks like a bunch of bumbling idiots. They should have played it safer earlier. They should have either: (1) stuck to their time-honored traditions of secrecy and dealt with the matter behind closed doors; or (2) opened it to the world and had a proper trial - not one where the sentence was, as it appears, pre-determined, but a real and proper and final one.

What has happened is neither here nor there. And it is shameful. And it makes us look shady.

I'd like to point out that initially, though I felt it was all happening to fast and it might be hasty, I welcomed the ban as the correct and fair decision. This is because I never imagined a complete acquittal being the eventual scenario, plus I assumed a fair and thorough trial.

The PCB were so hell-bent on protecting their own skin. They made the test results public as soon as possible, removed Asif and Akhtar from the Champions squad, thus saving themselves from the embarrassment of a rumored ICC doping test. The PCB, which usually keeps its inner workings and secrets tighter than the KGB, suddenly became the most righteous cricketing authority in the world, handing down 'justice' and verdicts like no other. They banned their rising phenomenon, Mohammed Asif and their tried and tested match winner, Shoaib Akhtar. What a show!

Will the ICC recognize this new verdict? Does the World Doping Agency have a say in this matter? I'm sure they will. Osman Samiuddin's piece in cricinfo hints towards their possible involvement.

The ICC did not have any immediate reaction. "Malcolm Speed is currently in Uganda and we can't comment on the issue unless we have all the details," said Brian Murgatroyd, the ICC spokesman. "We need to go through the judgment and also get the PCB's version before making any comment."

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in charge of monitoring drugs in sport, said they needed to discuss the matter with the ICC. Frederic Donze, their media relations officer, told Cricinfo: "We will now review the reasons for the decision, liaise with the ICC and consider whether to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

Amidst all this turmoil, the players themselves are awaiting a comeback, and are obviously being brought up for selection. This may not be so simple. From BBC...

Pakistan have resisted the temptation to recall key pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif for Thursday's second one-day international with West Indies. Neither has played since September and chief selector Wasim Bari said: "I will have to talk to the other selectors before deciding when to consider them."

Let's just wait and see what happens, but I don't think they should play till the ICC and WADA have come to their conclusions. Since 'exceptional circumstances' as being defined differently by the PCB, ICC or WADA came up as the crux of their defense, I suspect some more tests are in order. The ICC which happily accepted the tribunals initial verdict may not be so accommodating to this one.

This process has been embarrassing, taxing and waste of time. I have a feeling Pakistanis are probably overjoyed by this decision. Other cricket fans won't be too happy about this and that's not because two incredible bowlers may return; but that this process of banning and overturning the ban a month later has lacked transparency and looks crooked as hell. I have no explanation...

As far as the players go, if they do join the squad for the SA tour, I can only begin to imagine how the crowd will deal with them. The PCB has not treated them well, which is what we know for sure, and they have gotten true justice. Who knows? The process should have been thorough in the beginning, when they were assumed guilty before the hearings even began. That makes it highly unlikely for anyone to believe and trust them.

I don't know if they are guilty of doping or not, and I suppose no one knows. From what I have read about Nandrolone, it is quite possible that it can be produced endogenously. The Pakistani public will accept this reasoning and give them the benefit of doubt. I'd like to see some more testing and some independent scientific analysis of the results. For all we know, the Shoaib and Asif really could be clean as a whistle, and their dietary supplements may be the cause of the illegal substances.

This trial, retrial and so on has raised more questions than it has has answered, and I think this will continue for a while...