Are Dhoni-Tendulkar above Phelps-Bolt?

Opinions seem to be split in India too, as Sports Minister MS Gill and Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra have already come out in open favour of the code, to an extent that Bindra went on to remind cricketers of their ‘duty as an athlete’.

The ICC, which has vowed to make cricket free of doping, has become a WADA signatory, and has pledged to adhere to the guidelines set by them. But a public spat between ICC-BCCI on one side, and WADA on the other, has sent a wrong signal to the sporting world about cricketers’ commitment to a dope-free sport.

By openly rejecting the anti doping code, players like Tendulkar and Dhoni have only harmed their reputation. If Federer, Phelps, Bolt and Lewis Hamilton have no qualms in following the rules, then should there be an exception for the Indian stars?

Instead, we can think of a situation where Tendulkar is seen encouraging the younger lot to understand the importance of random testing, even if it amounts to some intrusion in their privacy, and then ask ICC & BCCI to engage in talks with WADA to make amendments in some rules for the benefit of players, who have signed it.

Secondly, refusing WADA’s guidelines will only delay cricket’s entry into the biggest sporting extravaganza, the Olympics, and hinder its expansion process.

Thirdly, the most amazing is the way things have been allowed to blow out of proportion by all the three concerned parties.

A closer look on WADA’s guidelines clearly mentions, and I quote, “The Athletes Whereabouts Guidelines in Article 2.4, 5.1.1, 10.3.3 are not mandatory in themselves and hence their always is an alternative way of discharging whereabouts responsibility and being available for the mandatory International Standard of Testing.”

Now, even if any player has any issue, he/she can approach the WADA authorities, or their respective boards can come with alternative plans.

The crisis has thrown an opportunity to living legends like Tendulkar, and even BCCI to an extent, to portray a higher stature, and move a step closer to dope-free cricket.

It would be refreshing to see the apex body of Indian cricket, BCCI, rising above petty confrontational politics and be a guiding light, rather than a bullish and pig-headed organisation.

A decade down the line, when history will judge cricketing icons like Sachin Tendulkar, we would like to see him as the man who bore the brunt and guided cricket into an era where suspicion and doubts were things of past, rather than someone who fell on the other side.