To maintain Indian cricket's clean image, BCCI needs to engage with national anti-doping body
Cricket in India is considered a clean sport.
News of a cricketer having failed a dope test conducted by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last year has set the cat among the pigeons. For a country which figures very high in World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) dubious list of doping offenders, to hear that a cricketer figures in the cheat list is a bit shocking.
What has made it even more intriguing is how the BCCI had kept the news under wraps. By suppressing information, it has only led to more doubt, with cricket fans and those who follow doping news closely not even aware as to what stage the doping investigations are in.
Ideally, if any cricketer had flunked a dope test, the BCCI should have made it public, after following due procedure. However, despite four positives in its tests since 2013, only Delhi left-arm paceman Pradeep Sangwan, representing Kolkata Knight Riders, tested positive for a steroid (stanolozol). An independent tribunal appointed by the Indian cricket board handed him an18- month ban.
To be sure, there are many in India who believe cricket is a fairly clean sport and has very few dope cheats. Those closely connected with the sport at top levels have this feeling that unlike track and field, weightlifting, wrestling and other Olympic sport, Indian cricket is not afflicted by this malaise. Yet, looking at the way doping has become and art and a science around the world, there is no sport which can be looked at as clean.
Agreed, the BCCI has a department which deals with education on anti-doping and providing literacy on the subject. To assume that all those playing cricket at home are aware of the deleterious effects of doping would be a very big assumption. There are a lot of intricacies in the whole scenario.
In India, all sports bodies which are registered with the sports ministry as a national sports federation (NSF) have to follow guidelines. These include matters relating to doping as well, including being signatories to the Delhi-based National Anti Doping Agency's (NADA) rules.
NADA would love to test cricketers, as it tests other athletes at camps and sporting events. The catch is that the BCCI is not a signatory to NADA's anti-doping code. To imagine that the BCCI would allow it to do so is wishful thinking.
As far as the International Cricket Council (ICC) is concerned, it does dope tests regularly in events which it runs and results have been published. In the IPL, dope testing has been done over the years and that's how Sangwan's case came to light. For the image of cricket at home to become cleaner, it would be in order for the BCCI to have some kind of a dialogue with NADA and take the issue forward.
All those who have followed the travails of administration in the BCCI will agree that it has been one recalcitrant body. Unless push came to shove, it never moved on many matters. Caught up in several legal tangles and facing administration issues galore, doping may not be the top priority for the CoA (committee of administrators).
If the sports ministry and NADA want to get tough, there is nothing wrong in it. By not sharing anti-doping testing and test result management details with NADA, the BCCI may have left the door open for the body to vigorously pursue the board to become a signatory.
It is learnt that the BCCI has an agreement with the ICC and would be loathe to fall in line quickly with the Indian agency. On Saturday, Rahul Bhatnagar, the new secretary in the ministry of youth affairs and sports, said he would ask the NADA to go ahead and test cricketers.
"We have received a letter from WADA, so we should go ahead and conduct tests for all sports in the country. I will ask NADA to do the same. If we are stopped in any way from doing this, we will report this to the WADA," Bhatnagar told Mail Today.
At a time when Indian cricket is on a high in terms of performance against visiting teams in all formats, it would be good if the BCCI can speed up matters in dealing with the NADA.
Yes, there can be problem areas, which are most likely to stem from the whereabouts clause. India's most celebrated sportsperson and Indian captain Virat Kohli will not be the only one to have reservations in sharing whereabouts.
Indeed, athletes around the world have complained about how the WADA whereabouts clause is an intrusion into their privacy. Yet, if celebrated icons like Usain Bolt, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and billionaire football stars have lived with this, surely the Indian cricketers too can. It's up to the ICC and the BCCI now to take the lead.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)