By IANS
London : The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled that it has no jurisdiction to reverse a decision to overturn the drug bans on Pakistan pacemen Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.
The pair was suspended for two years and a year respectively after testing positive for nandrolone. But the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) lifted the bans after the players claimed they had not knowingly taken the drug.
And the Lausanne-based court cannot get involved as the PCB does not recognise its authority, reports BBC on its website.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) had hoped to have the suspensions upheld after appealing to CAS to interject.
Wada chairman Dick Pound had told BBC last December that the ICC – the game's governing body – was "a signatory to the anti-doping code" and that Pakistan, as a full member of the ICC, was bound by its rules.
But a statement from CAS read: "The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed the appeal filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency against the PCB Anti-Doping Appeals Committee dated 5 December 2006.
"The CAS has considered that it has no jurisdiction to decide the dispute between the World Anti-Doping Agency and the PCB, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif."
Both players were not in Pakistan's squad for Sunday's rain-ruined one-day match against Scotland, but could play against India in Glasgow Tuesday.
And PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf said the CAS ruling showed the procedures followed by them had been "correct and justified".
He continued: "We followed the rules and regulations and that is why we have won this case. The PCB's policy has been proven correct and we are satisfied.
"The important thing about this case was that players always said they took protein substances unknowingly and this decision exonerates them."