All-rounder Yusuf Pathan, on Tuesday, was slapped with a backdated five months ban by the Board of Control for India in Cricket (BCCI) on the grounds of a doping violation which will end after four days from now.
The BCCI in a release said Yusuf Pathan had “inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups.”
In a decision which will leaves WADA and NADA officials in a tizzy, the board has back-dated the five-month suspension from 15 August 2017, meaning it will end on 14 January.
It will be interesting to see if other federations and association also follow this trend and the reaction of the WADA and NADA. Though it must be made clear here that BCCI is not a member of any of these agencies.
Pathan played 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is for India between 2008 and 2012, and was part of the squads that won the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007 and the 50-over World Cup in 2011.
According to the release, “Pathan had provided a urine sample as part of the BCCI’s anti-doping testing program during a domestic T20 competition on 16 March 2017 in New Delhi. His sample was subsequently tested and found to contain Terbutaline. Terbutaline, a specified substance, is prohibited both In & Out of Competition in the WADA Prohibited List of Substances.”
“On 27 October 2017, Pathan was charged with the commission of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under the BCCI Anti-Doping Rules (ADR) Article 2.1 and provisionally suspended pending determination of the charge. Pathan responded to the charge by admitting the ADRV and asserting that it was caused by his ingestion of a medication containing Terbutaline that had been mistakenly given to him instead of the medication prescribed for him, which did not contain any prohibited substance,” it further added.