Pakistan bowler Mohammad Asif will not travel to next month's limited-overs series against New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates due to the paceman's deportation from the UAE last year for possessing a small amount of opium, an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board said Monday. Asif was detained for 19 days in Dubai in June 2008 after 0.24 grams of opium were found in his wallet at the airport, as he made his way home from playing in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament. As a result, Pakistan officials believe it would now be unwise to send Asif back there to play three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 games against New Zealand at Abu Dhabi and Dubai. "If he lands in Dubai he will be caught," Butt told reporters. "I have talked at the highest level in Dubai and they told me 'don't risk him'." The limited overs series, which was shifted to the UAE due to security concerns in Pakistan, will be followed by three test matches in New Zealand. Asif recently returned to international cricket after serving a one-year doping ban, having tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone during the 2008 Indian Premier League. In 2006, Asif was suspended for a year by the PCB after testing positive for nandrolone, but the ban was overturned on appeal. The fast bowler has taken 51 wickets from 11 tests, and claimed 38 dismissals from 32 one-day internationals.
