Pakistan spinner Yasir Shah banned for World T20

Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah has been suspended for three months for failing a drug test.

The world's third-ranked Test bowler was provisionally banned in December after testing positive for prohibited diuretic chlorthalidone.

And the International Cricket Council punishment runs until March 27, ruling him out of Pakistan's World T20 campaign.

The ICC accepted that Shah had mistakenly taken his wife's medication instead of his own prescription for high blood pressure, but a statement said the sanction "reinforces a zero-tolerance approach to doping."

Shah said: "I assure all fans and followers of the Pakistan cricket team that I have never taken a performance-enhancing substance nor have I ever had the intent of masking any such substance.

"I have always been careful to check my medication with doctors and medical support staff to ensure it does not contain any substance on the prohibited list.

"However, I acknowledge that I should have taken extra precautions to ensure that my blood pressure medication was stored separately from my wife's medication so that there was no possibility of my wife's medication being mistaken for my own. Therefore, I accept the consequences imposed upon me."

Shah has taken 76 wickets in 12 Tests since making his debut in late 2014 and topped the list of wicket-takers during last year's series with England.

The 29-year-old will be available for this summer's return series in England.