 Shoaib and Asif now want to play in next year's World Cup |
The International Cricket Council is talking to the World Anti-Doping Agency to establish whether they can intervene in the Pakistan drugs controversy. Shoaib Akhtar was banned for two years but won his appeal and was free to play after serving only a month of his ban.
Fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif also tested positive for banned nandrolone and was initially suspended for a year.
An ICC spokesman said: "We are in discussion with Wada about the way forward. We can't say what may happen."
Essentially, the ICC will attempt to ascertain if it has a constitutional right to intervene.
It might fear that its flagship tournament, the World Cup, which takes place in the Caribbean next Spring, could be undermined by the presence of Shoaib and Asif in the Pakistan squad.
On Wednesday, ICC president Percy Sonn suggested he did not believe the Pakistan Cricket Board had a stringent enough policy against drugs.
He said: "Of primary importance is that all those members revisit their own regulations and align them both with the ICC's anti-doping code and the Wada code."
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