Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore on Sunday refused to comment on whether the government has directed the National Anti Doping Agency (Nada) to conduct random tests of the cricketers during domestic and international cricket matches, being played in India.
Last week, World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) had asked the International Cricket Council to direct the Board of Control for Cricket in India to allow Nada to test Indian cricketers.
On Saturday, Rahul Bhatnagar, secretary, ministry of youth affairs and sports, had told the Indian Express that they had ordered Nada director general Naveen Agarwal to conduct dope tests during cricket tournaments - international and domestic.
“If BCCI is not going to co-operate, I have told the Nada director general to send teams to the cricket competitions and take tests and if they resist, we will deal with that. But we will go ahead with the tests of these Indian cricketers as per anti-doping rules of Nada and Wada,” Bhatnagar was quoted as saying.
On Sunday, though, Bhatnagar refused to reassert the ministry’s intentions, only stating that Wada had complained about non-compliance in cricket, but refused to divulge any other details. “I don’t have anything to add to that,” he told PTI.
Over the years, BCCI has cited players’ reservations over Wada’s whereabouts clause as reason for not following their method of testing.