Whereabouts: The Code of discontent

The cricketers are uncomfortable with the “Whereabouts” clause which makes it necessary for them to give details about their availability for one hour every day (between 6 am and 11 pm) for random out-of-competition testing by WADA officials.

WADA said these are powerful deterrents and means of detecting doping by athletes. This specific rule is also part of the WADA’s revised International Standard for Testing that came into effect along with the revised Anti-Doping Code on January 1 this year.

The revised IST was approved by WADA’s Executive Committee, composed in equal parts of representatives from governments and sport, on May 10 last year. The 11 Indians who are part of the testing pool are Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj.

The players have already missed one deadline (July 31) to sign the code and two more such defaults in the next 18 months could lead to a two-year ban from international cricket.

While most sportspersons have signed the clause, Indian cricketers are not isolated as football’s governing FIFA is yet to sign the code.