After suffering the ignominy of becoming the first ever doping offender of the Indian Premier League (IPL) last summer, Mohammad Asif will make a comeback to the cash-rich Twenty20 league in Johannesburg early next month – but as a spectator.

The Pakistani fast bowler is on a rehabilitation mission which takes him to London on Wednesday (today) for a couple of weeks before he leaves for South Africa to witness some of the IPL matches there next month.

Asif, 26, is hoping to make a successful return to international cricket during this year’s ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa soon after his one-year ban ends in September.

The pacer was banned by the IPL after he tested positive for banned anabolic steroid nandrolone last summer while featuring in the inaugural season of the Twenty20 spectacle for Delhi Daredevils.

Asif left for London on Tuesday for a two-week stay during which he would be working on his fitness. Later on he will fly out for Johannesburg to watch a series of IPL games. He would then return to London to resume his fitness regime and will eventually end up playing league cricket in England this summer once his work permit is ready.

His agent says that the fitness plan has been devised in a way that can help Asif ease his way back into international cricket with the eight-nation Champions Trophy.

“All the setbacks that have hit him in the last year or so have left Asif really exhausted,” said Salman Ahmed, an official of the company managing Asif. “We have prepared a fitness regime for him that will help him recover both mentally and physically,” he told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

The plan is to make Asif work under expert trainers in England for at least four weeks and then start playing league cricket there.

“We have applied for a work permit which should be ready in about a month’s time,” said Salman. “Once it’s ready, we will work out a contract for him with some club in England.”

Several clubs based either in Cambridge and greater Manchester have shown a lot of interest in hiring Asif for this season.

“He will need a series of matches to regain full fitness,” said Salman.

After playing in England for a couple of months, Asif is supposed to return home in August for a final phase of training for the Champions Trophy.

“We are targetting the Champions Trophy as his (Asif’s) comeback event,” said his agent.

Asif, who was regarded as one of the most exciting fast bowlers in world cricket before getting entangled in a series of scandals, missed the previous edition of the Champions Trophy in India in 2006 because of a dope-related episode. Asif and fellow pacer Shoaib Akhtar failed a dope test for nandrolone and were sent back home from India.

Asif is also facing possible sanctions from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over another scandal. The Board is currently probing Asif’s misadventure in Dubai last summer when he was caught at the airport, allegedly carrying a small quantity of opium.

There are indications that the player will be let off with a fine as the PCB is seeking documents from the Dubai authorities, confirming that they have decided against pursuing the case against Asif. The Board has already received such a document but that was compiled by a law firm instead of the UAE government.
Source – thenews.com