If the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was to have its way, cricketers from India will have to undergo ‘out-of-competition targeted doping tests’ as well as ‘blood tests’ by the turn of the year.
As of now, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) subjects its players to ‘in-competition random testing’ wherein only urine samples are collected. In other words, the M.S. Dhonis and Virat Kohlis are only tested when they are with the Indian team on a domestic or foreign assignment.
Sample collectors don’t land up at their doorstep during the off-season or when the cricketers are on a self-imposed break. The players do not provide blood samples either.
According to a top source in the BCCI, this is all set to change. Players will now have to comply with the whereabouts clause and also agree to sample collectors to draw blood.
Indian cricketers have been “dead against” blood testing because of complications arising out of ‘extravasation’.
Extravasation injury is the damage caused when blood from a vein oozes into the surrounding tissue spaces. This can extend to involve nerves, tendons, and joints and can continue for months after the initial insult. Cricketers find it difficult to bat, bowl and field following the formation of a lump (of blood) at the point of impact (of the needle/syringe).
Indian cricketers are also against the whereabouts clause because they feel it infringes on their privacy and personal space, especially during the off-season. “Dhoni once told the BCCI that the road leading to his home in Ranchi is guarded by police. The State government had given him ‘Z’ category security. (Last year, it was downgraded to ‘Y’ category).
He and some other players have received threats from terrorist organisations in the past. That’s why the players have raised questions about the confidentiality and security risks involved in providing information on their whereabouts in advance,” the source said.
This explanation, the source said, was no longer acceptable to WADA because athletes across sporting disciplines follow it. “When the Federers, Nadals and Ronaldos can sign the whereabouts clause and also allow sample collectors to draw blood, why can’t India’s cricketers? This is WADA’s argument,” the source said.
He added that “nearly 50 per cent” of the 100-odd anabolic agents, peptide hormones, mimetics, hormone and metabolic modulators, diuretics, masking agents, stimulants and narcotics mentioned on the ‘prohibited list’ can’t be traced by testing urine samples. “A blood test is mandatory. Look, in all these years, we have had just one offender (Pradeep Sangwan). Either we are doing a very good job and our players are clean, or we are being fooled. We can’t leave any scope for doubts in this,” the source said.
Article 1.2.1 of the BCCI’s Anti-Doping Policy, however, states that the “(the player has) to be bound by and to comply strictly with the rules (without prejudice to any other anti-doping rules applicable to him/her), including making him/herself available upon request for testing at the instance of the BCCI at all times, whether in-competition or out-of-competition.”
According to the source, this is not followed in its entirety. “The WADA has informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) of the need to comply with the World Anti-Doping Code in its entirety. The Code clearly states that sports bodies are required to undertake three steps in order to be fully compliant: acceptance, implementation, and enforcement. The BCCI as well as the ICC are WADA-compliant, but the BCCI has not signed the whereabouts clause,” the source said.
“The WADA has notified the ICC. But the ICC is virtually run by the BCCI, the most powerful board in the world. So it’s up to the top brass of the BCCI to take a call. They may have to accept the code as early as next month,” the source added.
