Pakistan's Cricket Board has challenged the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) right to rule on a doping case involving bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, sport's top court said on Tuesday. However, Pakistani cricket authorities have agreed to allow a CAS arbitration panel to decide on the issue, the court said in a statement. "The parties have been invited by the CAS to make written submissions concerning CAS jurisdiction, after which, the Panel will render a preliminary decision regarding this issue," it added. If arbitrators decide that CAS has jurisdiction, it will then take around four months to rule on the case brought by an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against a lifting of the ban on the two bowlers. Pakistan's move could effectively delay the outcome. Akhtar and Asif tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in tests conducted last September, but their ban was lifted by the Pakistani board's anti-doping appeals committee. hey are aiming to play in cricket's World Cup in the West Indies, in March-April this year.

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