Pakistani batsman Ahmed Shehzad has been banned for four months for violating anti-doping regulations after he tested positive for a prohibited substance in May, the country's cricket board (PCB) said on October 5.
The PCB provisionally suspended Shehzad in July after his in-competition urine sample collected during the Pakistan Cup domestic tournament tested positive. An independent review board later confirmed the result.
His four-month suspension is effective from July 10.
The board said the 26-year-old acknowledged that he committed the violations, but said he had no intention to cheat or enhance his performance.
"PCB has a zero tolerance policy towards doping in cricket and hopes that in future cricketers will exercise utmost care to ensure that no prohibited substances enter their system," PCB chairman Ehsan Mani said in a statement.
The statement did not specify the substance that caused Shehzad's violation.
"I inadvertently consumed a medicine which, as an experienced cricketer, I should have refrained from," Shehzad said on Twitter after the decision was announced.
"This is a lesson for me...and I hope to make a strong comeback from here."
As a part of his rehabilitation process, Shehzad will also have to deliver lectures on anti-doping.
Shehzad last played for Pakistan in the two-match Twenty20 series in Scotland in June.
Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters