Shoaib turned to chemical cocktail and protein to keep pace

Medical profile: 8216;A 31-yr-old gentleman, well-oriented in time and space8217; with penchant for Western lifestyle

Occasional smoker, 8220;infrequent8221; alcohol consumer and a 8220;gentleman8221;. Buried inside the 19-page verdict of the Anti-Doping Commission which banned Shoaib Akhtar for two years is the fascinating sketch of a fast bowler who consumed a chemical cocktail to keep his career alive over the last seven years.

Revealing Akhtar8217;s personality and protein diet, which includes supplements like Blaze Extreme, T Bomb-II and Viper, to the panel set up by the Pakistan Cricket Board, his 8220;medical advisor8221; Dr Nouman Niaz calls him a 8220;31-year-old gentleman, well oriented in time and space8221;.

8220;Occasional smoker and a past history of infrequent alcohol consumption, with a penchant for western lifestyle, sexually active Shoaib has an unremarkable medical history,8221; is how Dr Niaz describes Akhtar. The pacer, he said, also 8220;normally takes heavy protein diets two major portions 8211; steaks or steamed meat/mutton/beef twice daily8221;.

Dr Niaz, however, terms Akhtar8217;s 8220;surgical/trauma history8221; as 8220;remarkable8221; 8211; from his shoulder injury in 1999 to a sore back 8220;lately8221;. He adds: 8220;Akhtar was born with two congenital deformities 8211; flat feet and hyper-extensive joints. Supreme athleteiquest; Shoaib weighs 85 kg and stands 5 ft 11 frac12; inches. His waist is 34, chest 44 and biceps 12 frac12; inches.8221;

In a desperate attempt to defend his client, Dr Niaz says: 8220;Shoaib is a mentally tough individual having withstood enormous social pressures. At one time, his career was at stake charged to have an illegal bowling action. He underwent extensive biomechanical diagnostic and rehabilitation session in Australia and returned to bowl himself to peak.8221;

Dr Niaz has even furnished details of a market survey 8220;conducted in western countries8221; to suggest as much as 20 per cent contamination in some of the supplements that Akhtar used.

But none of these managed to make much of an impression on the panel, which found Akhtar had been taking 8220;off the cuff medicines8221; without 8220;specifying who had prescribed them8221;. It said he had been taking them on the basis of 8220;general wisdom8221; based on his contacts and friends.

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Justifying the two-year ban, the verdict suggests that Akhtar took the banned substances knowingly and 8220;had never informed the Team Coach Bob Woolmer or the Team Physiotherapist or the PCB Medical Officer Dr Sohail Saleem about the supplements, vitamins and herbal medicines that he had been taking.8221;

8220;We asked him whether he can specify the vitamins that he had been taking. He replied in the negative. We asked him who had prescribed the herbal medicines that he had been taking. He said that he had been getting them from friendsiquest; he had been taking 8216;kushta8217; a herbal concoction and also various off the cuff medicines,8221; it states.

When Akhtar claimed that he had not read any of the awareness material distributed by the PCB, the three-man panel8212;Barrister Shahid Ahmed, former Test captain Intikhab Alam and Dr Waqar Ahmed 8212;confronted him with the 2004-05 players8217; contract he had signed, which contains 8220;specific clauses with regard to doping, etc8221;. Akhtar, however, claimed he had not read that, either.