2-month gap between Shaw’s sample collection and NDTL’s report

New Delhi, August 8

BCCI put out a timeline of Prithvi Shaw’s doping violation case, which showed a gap of more than two months between his sample collection and the final report from National Dope Testing Laboratory. 

In what appeared to be an attempt at damage control after attracting criticism for the manner in which the BCCI handled the 19-year-old India opener’s case, including allowing him to play in the IPL, the Mumbai T20 league and train at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), the timeline showed there was a reminder from the board to the NDTL. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) might also reopen the case handled by a body that is reluctant to come under the purview of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). Last month, Shaw was banned from all forms of cricket by the BCCI for a period of eight months after failing a dope test. Shaw’s suspension is retrospective in nature, starting from March 16 and ending on November 15, ruling him out of India’s home series against South Africa and Bangladesh. 

Clearance  for tours

BCCI CEO Rahul Johri will meet the Sports Ministry officials on Friday, seeking clearance for South Africa A and the women’s teams’ tours of India amid speculation that the go-ahead has been held back to pressurise the cricket board into accepting national anti-doping norms. Johri has sought an appointment with Sports Secretary Radhey Shyam Jhulaniya after the ministry kept on hold clearances for the two series to be held in late August and September, respectively. South Africa A and women’s teams’ tours to India have hit a roadblock as BCCI is yet to get the mandatory clearance letter from the Sports Ministry required for the visiting sides.

As per procedure, whenever a country tours India, the BCCI intimates the Sports Ministry about the itinerary and gets a routine clearance which helps the visiting sides to carry out their visa formalities smoothly. The clearance letter normally comes between 30 to 45 days.

But despite sending an application in March, as claimed by the BCCI, the Sports Ministry is yet to give the approval with sources hinting that the delay is meant to force the country’s richest sports body to completely come under the ambit of the NADA. “The BCCI CEO will meet the Sports Secretary tomorrow. He has sought time from the Sports Secretary to sort out some pending issues,” a Sports Ministry official said. “We were always clear that if BCCI has any pending work with us they should get in touch with us. It is never the other way round,” he added.

A BCCI official said the meeting is purely to get clearance for logistics. On March 18, BCCI decided to work independently with the NADA for six months on a trial basis without being deemed as a National Sports Federation. The denial could also affect Indian senior team’s upcoming home series against Bangladesh and South Africa as the ministry letter is required for the smooth clearance of visas. — PTI

BCCI, ICC in tax war

New Delhi: BCCI is set to seek advice from an English law firm after the ICC threatened to deduct a part of the Indian cricket board’s annual revenue share in a continuing tussle on tax exemptions for events held in India. The Shashank Manohar-led International Cricket Council (ICC) wants complete tax exemption for all global events happening in India and is still awaiting waiver for the 2016 World T20 held in the country. According to the latest documentation of the July 6 Committee of Administrators (CoA) meeting here, the ICC wants to recover the tax burden for the 2016 event by slashing the BCCI annual share from the ICC revenue. The BCCI legal team has informed the CoA that the Board “ensured all efforts to make tax exemptions to ICC”. — PTI