Shohidul Islam suspended after being found consuming banned substances

Cricket is a highly-competitive sport with the potential to change with every second. The game of cricket can turn drastically within a few minutes even after the players have given their all on the field.

At times, when the results don’t come as per their liking, they tend to take things into their own hands and consume some banned drugs. There have been many instances where players have taken some banned substance to enhance their performance on the field.

The doping issue has once again come to light, with Bangladesh pacer Shohidul Islam suspended for 10 months after he was found breaching Article 2.1 of apex cricket body's Anti Doping Code. The seamer has represented Bangladesh in one T20 international so far. He has been suspended from playing all forms of cricket for 10 months, following his confession.

The 10-month suspension has been backdated to May 28, the day he admitted to the offence, which means that the seamer will be again eligible to play cricket on 28^th March, 2023.

The 27-year-old bowler made his T20I debut against Pakistan in the third and final match of the series. He picked up the wicket of star batter Mohammad Rizwan but couldn’t help his team much as Pakistan completed a 3-0 whitewash in the series over Bangladesh.

The seamer travelled with the team for the series against New Zealand and South Africa but didn’t get a chance to play. He was also included in the squad for the ongoing Test and T20I series against West Indies but didn’t get a game due to a side strain.

Shohidul's urine sample was 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. The seamer had provided the urine sample as a part of ICC's out-of-competition testing programme.

While handing out the suspension, the apex cricket body confirmed that Shohidul had ingested the prohibited substance without his knowledge in the form of a medicine that he had been legitimately prescribed for therapeutic purposes. Shohidul also confirmed that he had no intention to use the prohibited substance for performance enhancement.