Karachi, August 19:

Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif is facing a two-year ban from cricket after his ‘B’ sample tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone, his lawyer said today.

The 25-year-old tested positive during the Indian Premier League (IPL) competition held between April and June, and the Pakistan Cricket Board suspended him in July on the basis of his first sample. “We have just completed the test on Asif’s B sample and it has come back positive,” his lawyer Shahid Karim said. “But I can tell you that the quantity of nandrolone has varied, which we can contest. We hope to further this case once we get an official test report from the IPL.” He said the ‘A’ sample contained a concentration of 6.2 nanograms per millilitre

of urine, while the ‘B’ sample contained 5.4.

Asif, who has played 11 Tests and 31 ODIs, said he was confident that the discrepancy would help him. Asif first tested positive in 2006 along with fellow paceman Shoaib Akhtar. He was banned for one year and Akhtar for two, but the bans were overturned on appeal.