Cricket Board Suspends Cricketer For Doping

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday suspended Punjab cricketer Abhishek Gupta for a doping violation. "The 27-year-old had inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups," an official release from the BCCI said. The release further mentioned that the first-class cricketer was tested with his urine samples during a domestic T-20 competition on January 15, 2018 in New Delhi and found Terbutaline. The substance found in the sample has been prohibited both in and out of competition in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List of Substances.

However, the BCCI is satisfied with the cricketer's explanation that he had taken Terbutaline inadvertently to treat an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) and not as a performance-enhancing drug.

The cricket board further said: "Having considered all of the evidence and taken expert external advice, the BCCI has accepted Mr. Gupta's explanation of the cause of his ADRV, and on that basis has agreed that a period of ineligibility of eight months should apply, together with disqualification of certain results."

The cricketer Under BCCI ADR Article 10.10.3, is entitled to full credit against that period of ineligibility for the provisional suspension that he has been serving since April 18 2018.

In addition, as Gupta promptly admitted his ADRV upon being confronted with it by the BCCI, there is discretion under BCCI ADR Article 10.10.2 to back-date the start of the period of Ineligibility to the date of sample collection (15th January 2018).

The eight-month period of ineligibility will therefore be deemed to have started to run on 15th January 2018, so that it will end at midnight on 14th September 2018, the release added.