IPL stands firm on Asif ban

Mohammad Asif has been suspended from all forms of cricket by a drugs tribunal

The Indian Premier League has rejected a request from the Pakistan Cricket Board to alter the dates on the commencement of a ban imposed on pace bowler Mohammad Asif.

Asif had tested positive for the banned drug nandrolone during the inaugural edition of the IPL last year and was found guilty by a drugs tribunal comprising former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, leading lawyer Shirish Gupte and medical expert Dr Ravi Bapat.

The tribunal had banned Asif for one year commencing September 22, 2008.

However, the 26-year-old Asif was suspended from all forms of cricket from July 14, the day on which the test results were made public.

Last week, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt wrote to the IPL requesting that the date of the commencement of the ban be altered to July 14. The IPL, however, has refused.

"We have received a request from the PCB to advance the ban on Asif from September 22 to July 15, 2008. We cannot do so," IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said.

"I do not know the reasons the tribunal had for banning Asif for one year.

"However, Asif could have appealed against it and the Appeals Tribunal would have looked into it. Asif, however, has not done so. The ban stays from September 22, 2008."

The drugs tribunal, while handing out their verdict had said they had banned Asif from September 22, 2008 as that was the date on which the IPL had imposed the suspension order.