ALL efforts are on to douse the hot possibility of the dope issue causing a clash between the International Cricket Council and the Board of Control for Cricket in India
ALL efforts are on to douse the hot possibility of the dope issue causing a clash between the International Cricket Council and the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Haroon Lorgat told SUNDAY MiD DAY that there is no difference of opinion between the two bodies that cricket must be a clean sport. And Shashank Manohar stressed on that there is no confrontation as portrayed in the media, a section of which reported that India will pull out of ICC events if they don't have their way in the anti-doping controversy.
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TEST MATCH IN STORE? BCCI president Shashank Manohar |
"We hope to work out the best possible solution that's mutually acceptable. There is absolutely no confrontation between the BCCI and ICC on the issue and if anyone is trying to convey such a picture, that is wrong," Manohar was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.
A Board official stressed that the players have good reason to take exception to the World Anti-Doping Agency since revealing their whereabouts infringes on their privacy. Plus, this could lead to a security problem. Quite often, the media reports on various threats on players by terrorist groups.
The players need to be more trusting when it comes to giving out their whereabouts for only a few would know about them and there is not good enough reason for them to earn the right to be treated differently. The security issue is something to mull over though. Nothing is more important than dear life.
So what's in store for the Indian players (Tendulkar, Dhoni and Sehwag) who are expected to attend today's meeting? An ICC lawyer will speak to them about flexibility in the system. For instance, they don't need to submit all of the information themselves. The BCCI can appoint an official who can help to manage the process.
The ICC representative will stress that change of plans are understandable hence there is a system to allow them to update information as per their altered plan.
All information will have to be submitted by the due dates. Does the ICC believe that it is unreasonable to expect players to know their whereabouts three months in advance? SUNDAY MiD DAY learns that they believe this is possible and the fact that information can be updated is a reasonably comfortable cushion.
Reminder
It is likely that the ICC will remind the cricketers that high profile athletes like Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Abhinav Bindra too follow these procedures.
It is learnt that even the BCCI realise the importance of testing procedures but they can't be seen being unsupportive of their players.
