03 August,2009 08:26 AM IST | | Anand I Naik
Anu00a0insideru00a0insistsu00a0theu00a0BCCIu00a0didu00a0notu00a0sleep over this issueu00a0as ICC were time and again reminded about Indian players not comfortable with the whereabouts clause inu00a0WADA anti-doping guidelines
Their battles in the recent past have been just as riveting as Team India's clashes on the field and it looks like the trend is going to continue.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's Working Committee, yesterday backed its players, and informed the International Cricket Council that it will not adhere to World Anti-Doping Agency's (wada) system of dope testing.
The ICC, aiming to make cricket dope-free, set the process in motion in 2006 and became fully-compliant to WADA in 2008.
One of WADA's clauses states that players must disclose their whereabouts at all times for random dope testing that is planned on a quarterly basis. BCCI president Shashank Manohar made it clear yesterday that the BCCI will not adhere to this clause.
The deadline for signing the WADA regulations has already passed and the Indian players face action if the ICC wishes to act. But the BCCI still decided to take the stern step as it feels ICC is trying to arm-twist Indian players into agreeing with the regulations by bringing up the subject around deadline time.
ICC's chief executive Haroon Lorgat has maintained that it is absolutely necessary to follow the guidelines however tough they are.
"In January this year, an ICC representative met our players to explain the doping process in detail. The players immediately had objections and we raised the same with the BCCI," a board insider revealed.
"Since January, Manohar or N Srinivasan (board secretary) raised this issue at every ICC meeting they have attended. But the ICC decided to sleep over it and brought it up when the deadline was nearing," he added.
The ICC refused to comment on anything after releasing a statement.
Privacy issue
"The players feel that revealing their whereabouts is an invasion of privacy and also compromises on security.
And we completely back them. A lot of players have security covers and in such cases, you cannot reveal such information to a third party.u00a0 Also, right to privacy is a part of the Indian constitution and we cannot go against it," Manohar said.
The BCCI, after its meeting yesterday, sent their suggestions to the ICC and one of them includes doing away with the whereabouts code.
"Now it is up to the ICC to react. When WADA made a presentation regarding its anti-doping procedures, it was done only in the presence of FICA (Federation of International Cricketers' Association) and India, or Pakistan for that matter, does not have any representation in FICA. Hence, there was no way we could have done anything about it until earlier this year," a board member said.
Victory?
Manohar stressed yesterday that they had no problem with WADA.
"The BCCI and the players are for a drug-free sport and are ready to do whatever possible. The players do not have a problem with out-of-competition testing too," he said.
The ICC once again finds itself in a spot of bother as Indian cricket, in more ways than one, has a stronghold over world cricket. And chances are, the Indian board could well force the ICC to see things their way.
