The ICC said on Friday that Mohammad Nawaz, a spin-bowling all-rounder for Pakistan, had been suspended for three months for failing a dope test after ingesting a “substance of abuse” unrelated to athletic performance during the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
After completing a drug rehab program, Nawaz’s sentence would be reduced to one month. His voluntarily provisional suspension began on May 1, which is when his ineligibility period began.
“Pakistan spin-bowling all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz has accepted a three-month period of ineligibility (which will be reduced to one month on completion of a substance of abuse treatment programme) for breaching the ICC Anti-Doping Code,” the world body stated in a press release.
“Subject to Nawaz completing a substance of abuse rehabilitation programme to the ICC’s satisfaction, Nawaz will not be required to serve the remainder of the three-month period of ineligibility.”
The 32-year-old had tested positive for carboxy-THC, an inactive liver byproduct produced by cannabis use. Following Pakistan’s T20 World Cup match against the Netherlands in Colombo on February 7, he underwent a dope test.
India and Sri Lanka co-hosted the competition, although Pakistan played all their matches in the island nation as part of a deal with the ICC.
“Nawaz admitted to the offence and demonstrated that the substance had been used out-of-competition, in a manner unrelated to sport performance,” the world body stated.
Nawaz’s two-and-a-half-month interim ban has been lifted following his acceptance of the sentence and commitment to the rehabilitation program.
Nawaz’s records from the February 7 encounter against the Netherlands and the games that followed until May 1 have been nullified in accordance with the ICC Anti-Doping Code.
