Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif could be cleared of his latest doping scandal due to a discrepancy in the concentrations of the prohibited steroid found in his two drug samples, an expert on doping said on Wednesday. Asif faces a ban of up to two years after the B sample of a drug test taken on May 30 tested positive on Tuesday at the World Anti-Doping Agency’s laboratory in Switzerland.

“There is a major discrepancy in the two (urine) samples of Asif which came out positive, and in such cases, the player has a chance to be cleared,” Dr. Danish Zaheer, president of Sports Medicine Association of Pakistan, said. Asif’s lawyer Shahid Karim was quoted in The News newspaper as saying that the B sample’s reading had 5.4mg of the steroid nandrolone, compared to the 6.2mg found in the A sample of the test taken while the player was contesting the Indian Premier League for the Delhi Daredevils.

“This is a lot of difference and I’m sure if his lawyer pursues the case, Asif has a chance to come out clean,” Zaheer said. The 25-year-old fast bowler was accompanied by his lawyer and medical expert Dr. Graham Durgan to Switzerland for results of the B sample test. “We will appeal to the IPL drug tribunal and point out the difference in the test results,” Asif was quoted in The News on Wednesday. “I am hopeful of being cleared even now.”

The IPL drug tribunal comprises former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, Dr. Ravi Bapat and lawyer Shirish Gupte.

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