Reports: BCCI decides to employ âwait and watchâ strategy on NADA issue
According to reports, Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to employ wait and watch policy with regards to coming under National Anti-Doping Agencyâs ambit after its meeting on Sunday. CK Khanna stated that board needs time and would require more meetings to reach any conclusions.
NADA has long wanted the BCCI to come under its ambit but the countryâs richest sports body has thwarted its attempt because it doesnât come under the ambit of National Sports Federations. According to reports from Scroll.in now, BCCI called for a meeting on Sunday to discuss the issue, in which it has decided to employ wait and watch policy. The meeting was attended by acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry. CEO Rahul Johri represented the Vinod Rai-led Committee of Administrators (COA) during the meeting.Â
âCEO Rahul Johri updated us on BCCIâs current stand on anti-doping policy and communication with NADA and ICC. However, no decision has been taken as of now. We have had some amount of discussions on this topic. But we are going to have a few more meetings before we can arrive at any conclusion. It will take some time,â said Khanna as quoted by Scroll.in.
The reports also mentioned that it would be difficult to convince top Indian cricketers like Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to sign the contentious âWhereabouts Clauseâ where players need to intimate the anti-doping body in advance for the testing purpose. The Indian cricketers are dead against the clause as they fear that their privacy would be breached.
With the Supreme Court scheduled to pass its verdict on the revised constitution based on Lodha Committee recommendations in the next fortnight, the CoA might not have enough time at their disposal to get a policy decision passed in such a short span of time.
If BCCI is coming under the NADA ambit, the decision has to be taken at the general body meeting as CoA cannot unilaterally decide it. The other topic that came up for discussion was allowing outstation players to take part in the state-based T20 leagues like Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), Karnataka Premier League (KPL) to name a few.
The meeting was attended by technical committee chairman Sourav Ganguly along with three office-bearers. The meeting was deemed necessary after players like Unmukt Chand, Sheldon Jackson, Hanuma Vihari, who were not allowed by the CoA to take part in the TNPL citing BCCI rules that prevent a player from another state to take part in a private league held in another state.Â
âSince the TNPL has started, this year nothing can happen. But we need to find a way out. Most of the members feel that players shouldnât be barred from playing,â one of the office-bearers said. âHowever technical committee chairman Ganguly made a pertinent point that we also need to maintain a fine balance when it comes to allowing too many state-based T20 leagues as itâs our duty to protect the novelty of Indian Premier League,â he added.
