Table of Contents
National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) has decided to set up five Dope Control Stations (DCS) in the UAE and conduct a minimum 50 random tests on cricketers during the course of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL).
As per reports in Times of India, ‘in-competition’ testing will be done only at playing venues – Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah – while ‘out-of-competition’ testing will be carried out at the training sites.
For the unversed, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), after resisting for years, decided to come under the ambit of NADA last year. The development means that the institution now has full rights to conduct their doping process on the Indian cricketers.
NADA likely to test big names
NADA director general Navin Agarwal has revealed that three separate teams comprising of NADA officials and Dope Control Officials (DCOs) would be travelling to the UAE in batches for sample collection.
“The first batch will leave in the first week of September. Before their departure, all team members will be tested for Covid-19. Upon their arrival in the UAE, they will be tested again,” Agarwal quoted as saying.
Further, DCOs are encouraged to test veteran cricketers like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan amongst others.
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) August 21, 2020
Although the conventional method of the dope test involves collecting a urine sample of players, NADA hasn’t ruled out the possibility of taking a blood sample if a situation arises.
The cash-rich league is scheduled to commence from September 19, and the final will be played on November 10. However, the BCCI is yet to come up with the complete fixtures for the tournament.
