da dobrowin： Board Secretary Jayawant Lele has said that the BCCI will followInternational Cricket Council’s guidelines on controlling drug abusein the game
07-Jul-2001Board Secretary Jayawant Lele has said that the BCCI will followInternational Cricket Council’s guidelines on controlling drug abusein the game.Lele, who was in Jaipur to attend a meeting of the Tours and FixturesCommittee, however maintained that drug abuse was not prevelant inIndian cricket and the recent allegations against some cricketers were’baseless’.Asked whether BCCI would introduce drug tests on the lines of thoseannounced by the South African Cricket Board, Lele said, “These arethe new challenges which cricket is facing and we shall find ways tocounter them.””We already have the code of conduct in which taking such substancesis prohibited. And if ICC announces the guidelines and list of banneddrugs, we will follow suit,” Lele said.Lele parried questions on whether the Cricket Board was contemplatinglegal action against ‘Outlook’ magazine which quoted former coachAnshuman Gaekwad as saying that some Indian players take drugs.”The matter will be discussed in the Working Committee meeting,” wasall Lele said. Gaekwad has since denied having made the allegationsattributed to him in the magazine.Regarding the clash in dates of the Asian Test Championship matchagainst Pakistan and a proposed bilateral indoor one-day seriesagainst Australia, Lele said BCCI would prefer to play in the Testmatch if it got the necessary approval from the government.Lele replied in the negative when asked whether BCCI’s views had beensolicited by the government for discussion on cricketing relations inthe summit talks between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee andPakistan President Parvez Musharraf.Lele said BCCI was working towards a graded payment system for Indiancricketers. “It is going to take some time but I do admit that aplayer who is playing his 200th match should get more than a playerwho is playing his first match,” he said.On the hectic shedule of the Indian team in the next one year, he saidall other international teams were also playing almost same number ofmatches and India was no exception.