ICC bans Shah for three months

The International Cricket Council has banned Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah for three months after testing positive for a prohibited substance in December.

Shah's retrospective penalty ends on March 27, ruling him out of the Pakistan Super League, the Asia Cup and Pakistan's World T20 campaign. 

A sample that was taken from the 29-year-old in Abu Dhabi in November contained chlortalidone – a diuretic on the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list of diuretics and masking agents. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board appealed the original suspension, claiming Shah had mistakenly taken his wife's blood pressure medication.

"We are confident that he didn't do it intentionally. He is a very naive guy and took that medicine out of ignorance," said PCG chairman Shahryar Khan. 

"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. 

"Yasir's wife coincidentally is also a blood pressure patient and he mistakenly used her tablet without knowing that it contained a banned substance. 

"The initial details we received regarding the medicine he had taken were incomplete. 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." 

November 5 Flashback: Yasir Shah has produced a remarkable ball that has drawn comparison to Shane Warne's 'ball of the century' against England

Shah is Pakistan's highest-ranked Test bowler and has been a major reason behind the country's success in the longer format in the past 18 months.

He made his Test debut against Australia in 2014 and took 12 wickets in his maiden series to help Pakistan win both Tests. In June 2015, during a series against Sri Lanka, he became the quickest Pakistan bowler to take 50 wickets in Tests, reaching the mark in just nine games.

As recently as November he was named player of the series as Pakistan beat England 2-0 in a three-Test series in the UAE, drawing a Test Yasir was absent from with injury.

On December 27, the ICC provisionally suspended him for breaching its anti-doping code.

It was not first time in the recent history that an international Pakistan player has tested positive for a prohibited substance.

Last year the PCB banned left-arm spinner Raza Hasan for two years after a test conducted during a domestic tournament revealed the presence of benzoylecgonine in his body. He is ineligible to play any form of cricket until March 2017.

In 2012, another Pakistan left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman tested positive for cannabinoid, a recreational drug, while playing county cricket in England. He was handed 12-week ban by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

In 2009, the Indian Premier League banned Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif for one year for taking steroids during the league's inaugural edition. A year before, in June 2008, the same bowler was detained in Dubai for 19 days on his way back from the IPL for carrying 0.24 grams of opium in his wallet.  

Asif and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for nandrolone, another prohibited substance, just before the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 in India. Both bowlers were immediately suspended and sent home. The PCB banned Asif for a year and Akhtar for two years but a month later the bans were lifted and both bowlers returned when Pakistan toured South Africa in January 2007.