Shoaib Akhtar © Getty Images

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Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar's five-year ban could bring to an end an international career dogged by controversy.

ecb.co.uk takes a look at the events which have threatened to derail the 'Rawalpindi Express'.

1999: Umpires Darrell Hair and Peter Willey call Shoaib for throwing in Australia.

2001: Legitimacy of action questioned again by Steve Dunne and Doug Cowie in New Zealand.

2002: Banned for one one-day international for throwing a bottle into the crowd during a Test against Zimbabwe.

Reprimanded after being found guilty of ball tampering in a Test against Zimbabwe.

2003: Banned for two matches in May after caught tampering with the ball in the triangular series one-day international against New Zealand in Sri Lanka.

Banned for one Test and two ODIs for abusing Paul Adams in a Test against South Africa

2004: Shoaib is called before a Pakistan Cricket Board medical commission to investigate a spate of injuries during the Test series against India.

2005: Fined by the PCB for missing a curfew on the tour of Australia.

2006: Suspended in October by the PCB and withdrawn from ICC Champions Trophy after testing positive for performance-enhancing drug nandrolone

Banned for two years in November by PCB doping tribunal.

Acquitted on appeal in December after PCB rules he had not knowingly taken nandrolone.

2007: Sent home from Twenty20 World Cup and banned for five matches after hitting team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat.

2008: Shoaib is banned from playing cricket in Pakistan for five years in April following his criticism of the national governing body.