The ICC has done it again. The outfit has successfully
ducked the IPL-doping-bouncer and asked the BCCI, to manage the rest! No other international body has ever shown this much dexterity in passing the buck so consistently as the ICC.
When the news came out that a fast bowler from the subcontinent had tested positive for a banned drug, the ICC put out a press release detailing how 'firmly' they will handle the whole thing.
"As with any AAF (adverse analytical finding) that arises during a testing programme organised by one of the ICC’s members, it is the responsibility of that member, in this case the BCCI, to deal with the process in a timely and fair manner." Not only that, it would keep a close eye on the way BCCI handles the issue to ensure that the guilty player is brought to book!
The responsibility to deal with a problem involving a Pakistani player who tested positive during a tournament held in India has been entrusted to the BCCI! Already, the Pakistani representative of the WADA has come out with the statement that the BCCI has erred in naming the player and the pitch may get queerer.
As though the ICC has something more important to do!
Isn't the duty of the international apex body to keep a tab on incidents that may bring the game into disrepute and act at the earliest? It seems, the ICC thinks otherwise.
We have seen it many times before- When the appliction of ICL for recognition came up, the ICC toed the line of the BCCI. In 2006, Shoaib Akhtar and our own Mohammad Asif were banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Later, an appellate tribunal, on an appeal, had overturned the ban. What did the ICC do? Nothing!
The World Anti-Doping Agency had taken the PCB and ICC to the task then. WADA chairman Dick Pound said,``It is certainly aberrational to have a national federation telling the international federation what rules it is going to apply in something like doping.''
Recently, the ICC has been making some feeble attempts to amend its rules concerning doping. It is to be seen how this will pan out. The BCCI would find it very difficult to bring the guilty, if so proved, to book, due to the larger issues of votes in the ICC and thepolitics involved. But, the ICC has nothing to lose, rather, everything to win. If no action is taken, the
BCCI is the culprit and if it is otherwise, the credit goes to the Marilybone Cricket Club!
Now to the player in question. In 2006, when they were caught, Shoaib and Asif said that they took the banned steroid nandrolone unwittingly. Knowingly or unknowingly, a crime is a crime and it should be dealt
with accordingly. After all, international sports persons are expected to know the minimum about what could put their career to an untimely end. Recently, Asif was detained at Dubai airport for 19 days for possessing opium.
Will Asif be lucky for the third time? For the moment, it seems he may get away with a light sentence.
