Shah, named in the ICC’s Test Team of the Year for 2015, tested positive for banned substance chlorthalidone following the second one-day international against England in Abu Dhabi in December.

He had claimed that he had taken his wife’s blood pressure medication by mistake, causing the positive test.

This was accepted by the ICC but they still opted to ban the spinner for a three-month period as they stressed their “zero-tolerance approach to doping”.

The 29-year-old, who has 76 Test wickets to his name at an average of 24.17, was given a provisional suspension by the ICC and his ban has been backdated to December 27.

He will be free to return to action after March 27.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had originally appealed his provisional suspension but seemed resigned to the fact that Shah would be given a ban after they waived his right to a B-sample test.

Their appeal appeared to centre on getting the leg-spinner a more lenient punishment and it seems to have paid dividends as he could have been given a two-year ban from the sport by world cricket’s governing body.

PCB chairman Shahryar Khan had admitted Shah had been “naïve” and that he “took the medicine out of ignorance.

“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,” Shah said.

“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 it being mistaken for my own.

“Therefore, I accept the consequences imposed upon me.”

ICC general manager Geoff Allardice said that the case “reminds all international cricketers that they remain personally responsible for ensuring that anything they eat, drink or put into their bodies does not result in an anti-doping rule violation”.

A statement from the governing body added: “While making the decision, the ICC accepted that Mr Shah had inadvertently ingested the 'Specified Substance' for therapeutic reasons, specifically to treat his blood pressure.

“He was able to satisfy the ICC through evidence and submissions prepared on his behalf by the Pakistan Cricket Board that he had no intention to enhance his sporting performance or to mask the use of another performance enhancing substance and had, instead, mistakenly taken his wife's blood pressure medication that was identical in appearance to his own but which contained the prohibited substance chlorthalidone.

“However, Mr Shah has accepted that he had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility incumbent upon him as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.”

Shah’s next appearance for Pakistan could be when his team tour England this summer.

The World Twenty20 event is due to take place in India from March 8 to April 3.