"After the liposuction to remove fat from his body and trimmed down his weight, Shoaib will require at least three to four months to make a complete recovery and be available to play competitive cricket once again," the newspaper quoted a well-known sports medicine specialist, Dr Waqar Ahmed as saying in its report.

Neither Akhtar nor his family members were available to confirm or deny the reports about the liposuction operation but a board official said that the fast bowler had neither consulted or informed the PCB about his decision to get medical treatment to shed fat from his body.

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"He is a centrally contracted player and he is supposed to consult our medical panel and inform us before undergoing any medical treatment but he didn't do this before opting for the liposuction," another official said.

The board had refused to foot medical bills for Akhtar when he was advised to have knee surgery in London some weeks ago.

Their argument was that despite being a centrally contracted player he didn't sustain the injury while playing for Pakistan nor did he bother to consult or send his reports to the medical panel of the board.

Sources close to Akhtar said that since the board had refused to pay for his medical expenses he had decided to have the liposuction on his own expenses and didn't feel the need to consult the medical panel of the board.

The report said that the new surgery had virtually ruled out any chances of Akhtar being available for the Test tour to Australia which he was earlier targeting for a comeback to international cricket.

The report said according to experts after a liposuction a person needed to have proper rest and a rehabilitation process to make a full recovery and play sports.

"Since Shoaib is a professional sportsman he definitely needs proper rest or he could damage his career badly if he tries to make an premature comeback from these surgeries," one doctor said.

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