Should cricketers be subjected to dope tests

There is a raging controversy going on with regards to subjecting our cricketers to dope tests. Doping is the bane of all competitive sports and the world sports bodies have agreed to accept the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) compliance requirements. The question is whether cricket is a competitive sport or it is a game played by a few select nations. It is a pretence at competition because large amounts of money involved because of the clout of the BCCI and the cricket fanatics in India. The money drives the so called spirit of competition – ask any cricketer who stands at third man or long leg all day long with the ball coming to him maybe once or twice in an entire innings whether he was physically stressed!

If the cricketing community thinks theirs is a competitive sport then there should be no objections to be tested for drug abuse. The only reason these guys may be objecting is because they may be taking life style drugs for stress relief – who knows! There are enough cases of drug abuse by cricketers – not performance enhancing drugs but the other kind – which give people a high - on record for the cricketers to adopt an holier than thou attitude. For once, I am in sync M.S. Gill’s view that there should be no exception to the rule and all sportspersons, regardless of the sport / game should be tested for doping.

Clauses like the whereabouts clause can always be negotiated with WADA, there is no reason for BCCI to use its financial clout to completely by-pass something which is good for sport internationally. The BCCI’s demand for an independent anti-doping code lacks credibility – it looks like the BCCI is aware of the skeletons in its cricketer cup-board, hence would prefer to bully its way out of a sticky situation.

It would be best if cricket is de-recognized if cricketers as an international sport if the players or their parent bodies refuse to submit to such tests.