• Pakistan’s Ahmed Shehzad faces doping ban

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    The Pakistan Cricket Board have tweeted that ‘a player has reportedly tested positive for a prohibited substance’.

    Opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad has been identified in the press as the player in question, although authorities have not yet confirmed the identity of the player. The infringement was picked up when a doping test was conducted during the Pakistan Cup, the domestic five-team ODI tournament held in Pakistan in late April.

    Shehzad enjoyed a highly successful spell in this year’s Pakistan Cup, ending as the top-scorer as his team, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, went on to take the title. He hit one century and three half-centuries to total 372 runs at an average of 74.40.

    Shehzad faces a potential three-month ban from international cricket for violating the ICC’s anti-doping laws, but has been offered the option of taking a second test if he wants to prove his innocence. The formal decision (and confirmation of the player in question) is expected to be announced in the next five days.

    The 26-year-old made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi on 31 December 2013 but has not yet broken 1,000 runs in Test cricket, although he has proven more successful in ODIs (2,605 runs) and T20Is (1,454 runs). His last Test was against the West Indies in Bridgetown in April 2017, where the opener scored 70 and 14 as Pakistan stumbled to a shock 106-run defeat when they collapsed to 81 all out in the second innings.

    Photo: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images

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    Simon Lewis