Five Indian cricketers, who are centrally contracted with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul, have received the notice from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts. However, the BCCI has clarified the reason for these failures.
Among the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP), a total of five Indian cricketers have received this notice. Apart from the men’s cricket team players Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul, two women cricketers have also got this notice and these two players are Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma.
NADA DG Navin Agarwal has confirmed that the Indian governing cricket body has officially explained the reason for these failures.
He told PTI, “There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf.
“Now athletes in some discipline aren’t educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up form.
“They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts.”
Indian cricketers feel it through the BCCI
To ensure the filling up process perfectly, the Indian cricketers also complete it through the BCCI.
He added, “Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don’t have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts.”
Talking about the BCCI’s explanation, Agarwal claimed that the Indian governing cricket body pointed out the password glitch in ADAMS, which has been resolved now.
Agarwal claimed, “Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved.”
He further added, “BCCI’s explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here.”
According to the PTI reports, three filling failures can result in two years of suspension upon hearing.
In reaction, a BCCI official has raised the question of why the board didn’t advice the players to fill up the form individually with some guidance.