With his pony-tailed hair and penchant for fast living, top Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has always lived up to his famous nickname. But tonight, the Rawalpindi Express may have just pulled up at the final stop after a drugs tribunal waved a two-year ban at him for testing positive for steroids.

Set up by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the tribunal also banned 31-year-old Akhtar’s junior colleague Mohammad Asif for a year after urine samples of both showed traces of Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, after internal tests conducted in September.

The tribunal found that Akhtar had knowingly used the banned substance while Asif, 23, received a shorter ban because he had “little knowledge” about the usage of performance enhancing medicines.

The decision, announced in Lahore by tribunal chief Shahid Hamid, rules out both cricket stars for the World Cup in West Indies next March. And while a PCB spokesperson said both players have a chance to appeal within the next seven days, it’s unlikely that the verdict will be reversed.

In effect, the ban ends the seven-year-old international career of Akhtar, who has been struggling to recapture form after a series of injuries. But it’s the non-availability of Asif, one of the brightest fast bowling talents to emerge from Pakistan in recent years (30 wickets in six Tests), which will be a serious blow for the team.

“We have banned Shoaib Akhtar from playing international and domestic cricket for two years, and Mohammed Asif has been banned for one year for playing international or domestic cricket,” Hamid told a news conference at the PCB’s headquarters in Lahore. He said the tribunal had imposed the minimum punishment under the regulations of the PCB, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). “We were helpless and our hands were tied,” Hamid said.

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