The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally come out in public after six months that Indian Test opener Prithvi Shaw has been suspended for doping violations on Tuesday.
The very admission by BCCI is a huge embarrassment and even put question marks over its “internal mechanism” of controlling and educating the cricketers all over country. The two others who have been caught and suspended along with Shaw are age-group cricketers, Akshay Dullarwar (22, Vidarbha) and Divya Gajraj (17, Rajasthan).
The member of India’s U-19 World Cup winning team, Shaw made his debut for India last October as reward for his heroics in first class cricket. He was being hailed as “next big thing” in Indian cricket, but was subsequently ignored from future tours after he sustained foot injury during Australian tour.
Shaw was tested positive for Terbutaline during a urine test conducted during Mumbai’s Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament against Punjab on February 22.
It must be mentioned here that BCCI has for so long refused to comply with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) regulations. BCCI’s release saying that “Shaw inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance” which can be commonly found in cough syrups signals towards its own failure that “programme of educating young cricketers may probably not yielding the desirable results”.
“I accept my fate with all sincerity. While I am still nursing an injury which I suffered during my last tournament, this news has really shaken me,” was how Shah reacted late on Tuesday. “I have to take this in my stride and hope it inspires others in our sports fraternity too in India that we as athletes need to be extremely careful in taking any medicine for the smallest of medical ailments even if the medicine is available over the counter and we need to always follow the protocol,” added the opener who scored century on his Test debut.
Shaw’s eight-month suspension came into effect retrospectively on March 16, when he was tested positive, and will runs till November 15. That simply means that opener will not be available for selection for the home Test series against South Africa and for the first Test against Bangladesh. “Having considered all of the evidence and taken expert external advice, the BCCI has accepted Shaw’s explanation of the cause of his ADRV, and on that basis has agreed that a period of ineligibility of eight months should apply, together with disqualification of certain results,” Board release stated.
It has now come to light that BCCI charged Shaw under its Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) on July 16 after studying the evidence and even getting satisfied with his explanation that he had inadvertently consumed Terbutaline.
The case may not be rested here after BCCI’s suspending Shaw for eight months, considering the ongoing tussle of the Indian board with WADA’s regulations.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and WADA have the right to appeal this decision.
