Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar will have to undergo dope tests before the Asia Cup only if his appeal against the five year ban on him is upheld by the appellate tribunal, says a PCB official.

"The dope tests will only be conducted on those players who are qualified or selected to play for Pakistan," the senior official said, when asked if Shoaib would have to undergo the dope tests as recent media reports have suggested.

"I wouldn't like to go into the details but our policy is clear on dope tests. Only those players will be picked for the tests who are qualified or selected to play for the Asia Cup," he added.

Shoaib's appeal against his five year ban imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board's disciplinary committee comes up for hearing on June 8, 2008 but with one of the members of the appellate tribunal, Salman Taseer resigning, the board is yet to announce a replacement and this could delay proceedings.

"We want to announce the name as soon as possible so that the tribunal can carry on with its proceedings," the official said.

The tribunal had suspended the five year ban on Shoaib for one month to allow him to play in the Indian Premier League. The ban imposed on the fast bowler says that he cannot play in or for Pakistan but is free to play anywhere else in the world.

He said the dope tests before the Asia Cup were nothing new and the board had been doing these in-house tests for the last two years to keep the sport clean of drug cheats.
Shoaib tested positive for a banned substance in 2006 along with teammate, Mohammad Asif and they were banned for two years before being cleared by an appeals panel.