Akhtar: I’m no cheat!

After testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid Nandrolone, Shoaib Akhtar issued the following statement through bigstarcricket.com :

“I cannot say much at this time about what has happened but I just want to assure everyone that I am innocent of doing anything I shouldn’t have. The President of Pakistan has asked me not to comment in any detail at this stage and I want to respect his wishes, so I will keep my message short. All I can say is that I have not knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs and would never cheat my team-mates or opponents in this way. I have always played the game fair and I give 100 percent and do not feel that I need to take drugs to help my bowling.”

His claims were backed up by his private doctor Tauseef Razzaq (what a surprise!) , who said , “Akhtar is definitely innocent and I can vouch for him,” said Tauseef. “He doesn’t know anything about medicines, and since he recently suffered ankle and knee injuries, he must have taken some medicines which are painkillers but come under the banned substances. Akhtar is so valuable a cricketer and is conscious of the fact, so I don’t think he would take anything intentionally. Since he bowls at a venomous pace he also knew he would always be a target for a dope test.”