Rohit Sharma tested 6 times for anti-doping in 2021-22: In the most shocking revelation, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has alleged India of not conducting enough doping tests in the year 2021-22 on the country’s athletes. The reports also mentioned that Indian captain Rohit Sharma was amongst the most tested cricketers for the doping test in the same period, while Virat Kohli was not tested once during the period.
As per the details of the RTI, obtained by the Indian Express, the details of the number of dope tests conducted during the year 2021-22 were revealed.
In August 2019, cricket came under the purview of the government-run anti-doping body. Government representatives subsequently promised that “all cricketers would be tested by NADA” and that “the BCCI was no different from other” federations, putting an end to years of defiance from the cricket board.
As per the data points collected from the RTI, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) ran a total of 5961 doping tests across the different streams of Indian athletes in the years 2021 and 2022. However, only a handful of those was done on cricketers – 114. Meanwhile, the maximum number of testing was done in athletics.
The reports paint a picture whereby the Olympic athletes of the country remain under constant scrutiny of going through the doping tests, but the probe remains to be lenient when it comes to cricket, which is the most watched sport in the country.
Rohit Sharma tested 6 times – NADA Report
Among Indian cricketers, Indian captain Rohit Sharma was tested the most time in the specified time period – 6 times. He was tested in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai and the UAE. However, no tests were run on former Indian captain Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya.
Notably, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) examined 12 out of 25 centrally contracted BCCI male cricketers not even once during 2021-22, which is shocking. The list includes the likes of Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson and Srikar Bharat.
Seven Indian cricketers – Rishabh Pant, Cheteshwar Pujara and Suryakumar Yadav among others were tested once during the period.
Talking about the women’s cricket. Every player was bound to go for the doping examination at least once with the stalwarts like Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur undergoing the anti-doping test thrice apiece.
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