ICC presses PCB on Asif doping case

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has pressed the Pakistan cricket Board to outline its position on the Mohammad Asif drugs case.

The fast bowler was detained at Dubai airport last June after being found in possession of opium.

A senior Pakistani official said the board had received an e-mail from ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat inquiring about the board's stance on the case which has drawn calls for a life ban.

"We have got an e-mail. They have seen documents from Dubai authorities related to the case," Saleem Altaf, the Pakistan board's chief operating officer, said Thursday. "We will inform them accordingly."

Asif, who has played in 11 Tests and 31 one-day internationals was detained in Dubai for 19-days when customs officials found 0.24 grams of opium in his wallet.

He was returning home from India after playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Dubai public prosecutor's office did not press criminal charges against Asif but he was deported from Dubai.

Asif is also due to face a hearing of the IPL drugs inquiry tribunal next week for failing a doping test during the IPL last year.

The PCB has already suspended Asif from playing any cricket in the country since his failed dope test.

Asif who is due to leave Thursday for New Delhi for the IPL, admitted to feeling the stress of the pending cases against him.

"I want the PCB and the IPL drugs tribunal to give their decisions. I maintain I never used drugs," he told Reuters.

Asif told the Dubai police he was unaware he was carrying opium in his wallet. He said he thought it was a herbal medicine prescribed by a local doctor to boost his energy and control blood pressure.

"I have never used performance enhancing drugs in my life. So I just want to know where I stand," he said.