5 Indian cricketers receive notice for failing to disclose their whereabouts to NADA

Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers have received a notice from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts, a routine protocol that is followed by the anti-doping agency.

The Indian cricketers to have received the NADA notice are KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja from the men’s team. The list also includes women cricketers Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are the mainstays of the women's side.

The NADA process:

The sportspersons registered in the testing pool by NADA must report their whereabouts to the authorities either by themselves or by their national sports body.

Even though the world is effectively locked down amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, the players (or their respective boards) still need to follow the designated protocol considering the strict anti-doping measures in place across the sporting world.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who is officially expected to respond on behalf of all of the five Indian cricketers, missed filing the reply originally and have cited a technical glitch as the sole reason in failing to do so.

BCCI cites technical glitches in failing to notify NADA:

The BCCI, headed by president Sourav Ganguly, has responded that a technical glitch in password as the reason for the delay in sending a reply to NADA's notice.

The anti-doping agency seemed satisfied by the Indian board, stating that “they (BCCI) have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable, but a decision will be taken”.

Even though a decision is still pending, NADA’s response in terms of finding the Indian cricket board’s response as a 'reasonable' explanation seems to have calmed any nervous bones that might have been worrying the cricketers in question.