Indian middle order batsman Yusuf Pathan has been handed a five-month ban due to a doping violation but will be free to play from Monday after it was backdated to August, the country´s cricket board (BCCI) has said.

The right-hander, who represented India in 57 one-day internationals, 'inadvertently ingested' a prohibited substance to treat an upper respiratory tract infection, the BCCI said in a statement on Tuesday.

A urine sample collected last year tested positive for terbutaline, which features in the World Anti-Doping Agency´s list of prohibited substances. He was provisionally suspended in October and the board, convinced by the player´s explanation, backdated the start of his five-month suspension to mid-August.

Pathan, whose six-hitting ability and tidy off-spin bowling made him a limited-overs asset, is free to play from Monday.