Bangladesh pacer Shohidul Islam suspended for 10 months for failing doping test

Dubai: Bangladesh pacer Shohidul Islam was on Thursday banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for 10 months for failing an out-of-competition dope test conducted in March. Shohidul’s urine sample returned positive for Clomifene, which is classified as a Specified Substance under WADA’s Prohibited List. It is prohibited both in-competition as well as out-of-competition. He had provided the urine sample as a part of ICC’s out-of-competition testing programme. “Bangladesh pacer Shohidul Islam has been suspended for 10 months after pleading guilty to breaching Article 2.1 of the ICC Anti-Doping code,” the ICC said in a statement. “After admitting the offence, Shohidul has been suspended from all forms of cricket for 10 months.” While handing out the suspension, the ICC confirmed that Shohidul had inadvertently ingested the prohibited substance in the form of a medicine that he had been legitimately prescribed for therapeutic purposes. Shohidul also testified that he had no intention to use the prohibited substance for performance enhancement. The 10-month suspension has been backdated to 28 May, the day he admitted to the offence, meaning the Bangladesh pacer will be eligible to play from 28 March, 2023. The 27-year-old pacer has played a solitary T20I for Bangladesh, where he picked up the wicket of Mohammad Rizwan in the third and final match of the series which Pakistan won 3-0. He has been part of Bangladesh’s travelling squads for series against New Zealand and South Africa but did not get any game time. He was also a part of the Bangladesh Test and T20I squad for the ongoing tour of the West Indies but missed out due to a side strain.