Yusuf Pathan suspended for 5 months for doping

Indian all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has been suspended for five months for doping and this period will end on January 14, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Tuesday.

The BCCI said Pathan had been serving the backdated five-month suspension from August 15.

Pathan failed a dope test conducted during a domestic T-20 tournament on March 16, 2017 and had since been provisionally suspended. After admitting to the charge, according to a BCCI statement, he was handed a five-month suspension.

"Yusuf Pathan has been suspended for a doping violation. Pathan had inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups," a BCCI statement said.

"His urine sample was tested and found to contain Terbutaline, which is prohibited both In & Out of Competition in the WADA Prohibited list of Substances," it added.

On October 27, Pathan was charged with the commission of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under the BCCI Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) Article 2.1 and provisionally suspended pending determination of the charge.

Pathan responded that a medication containing Terbutaline was mistakenly given to him, instead of the medication prescribed for him, which did not contain any prohibited substance.

"The BCCI is satisfied with Pathan's explanation that he had taken Terbutaline inadvertently to treat an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) and not as a performance-enhancing drug," the statement said.

"Having considered all of the evidence and taken expert external advice, the BCCI has accepted Pathan's explanation ... and has agreed that a period of ineligibility of five months should apply, together with the disqualification of certain results," it added.