Former India allrounder Yusuf Pathan has been suspended by the Board of Control for India in Cricket (BCCI) for five months on the grounds of a doping violation. The BCCI, hours after it was reported that it had instructed the Baroda Cricket Association to not select him for the recently concluded Ranji Trophy, released a statement Tuesday revealing that the 35-year-old had “inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups.”

The BCCI has back-dated the suspension from 15 August 2017, effectively meaning it will end on 14 January 2018.

“Pathan had provided a urine sample as part of the BCCI’s anti-doping testing program during a domestic T20 competition on 16 March 2017 in New Delhi. His sample was subsequently tested and found to contain Terbutaline. Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited both In & Out of Competition in the WADA Prohibited List of Substances,” said the BCCI release.

“On 27 October 2017, Pathan was charged with the commission of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under the BCCI Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) Article 2.1 and provisionally suspended pending determination of the charge. Mr Pathan responded to the charge by admitting the ADRV and asserting that it was caused by his ingestion of a medication containing Terbutaline that had been mistakenly given to him instead of the medication prescribed for him, which did not contain any prohibited substance.”

The board stated that it was “satisfied” with Pathan’s explanation that he had taken the banned substance Terbutaline “inadvertently” while undergoing treatment for an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) and not as a performance-enhancing drug. The BCCI subsequently accepted his explanation of the cause of his ADRV and suspended him for five months along with the disqualification of certain results.