ICL not interested in dope tainted Asif
Karachi, Nov 23: Zeecric Bureau
There is no place for dope tainted Mohammad Asif in Indian Cricket League’s scheme of things, a source close to Moin Khan, ICL’s sole recruiting agent Pakistan, said.
The source said that the rebel league has no intentions of signing up the dope-tainted Pakistan pacer, who is locked in an expensive legal battle to avoid a possible two-year ban after testing positive for a banned drug while playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in May, earlier this year.
Infact, the Delhi Daredevils’ pacer is blackmailing the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) by spreading false rumours that the ICL has offered him a lucrative contract, sources told a Pakistani newspaper on Sunday.
“If ICL had made any offer to Asif, it would have come through Moin,” said the source. “Moin doesn’t have any information whether ICL was interested in signing up Asif and it is quite apparent that the player is spreading rumours to pressurise the PCB,” the source added.
A few days back, reports suggested that Asif has been offered a lucrative contract by the ICL which currently has 18 Pakistan cricketers on its payrolls.
Asif, 25, confirmed these reports, saying that he has no option but to defect to ICL since the PCB has suspended him from all cricket over a positive dope test — Asif’s second in two years.
Asif has been a regular offender, when it comes to doping offences, in the recent past.
He had tested positive for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy in India and failed a dope test for the same drug again this summer.
In June, he was detained at the Dubai Airport for 19 days for carrying a small amount of opium.
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