The Rawalpindi Express will have to be content with resting in oblivion for a two year period. And he will have company in team mate Mohammed Asif for a year.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday came out with the decision to ban Shoaib Akhtar and Asif for two years and one year respectively from playing international or domestic cricket, after a tribunal probing doping charges found that they had tested positive for the banned nandrolone.

The pacemen had been found guilty at an internal testing programme carried out by the PCB just hours before the start of the Champions Trophy tournament, which is currently on. The penalty has been spelt out as per regulations of the PCB, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Though Akhtar will have to serve a two year ban, Mohammed Asif was lucky enough to get a shorter period because, unlike Shoaib, he had little knowledge regarding the use of performance enhancing substances, said the PCB. Further, Asif had stopped using the banned substance after his physiotherapist asked him to do it.

The duo denied the charges, but to no avail. Shoaib and Asif can now launch appeals and have got seven days to do so. They however have clarified that they are not planning to challenge the test results.

Meanwhile, coach Bob Woolmer has said that the players might have been taking a build-up powder which he was not aware of. He added that one can pick a substance from the racks without knowing that it has nandrolone in it.

The ban has been spelt out with effect from October 15. The ban has now ensured that the duo wouldn’t have to look forward to the 2007 World Cup. With age catching up the 33 year old Shoaib Akhtar doesn’t stand the chance to bowl for another world cup, though the younger Asif can hope of returning to the team later on.