Doping or deviation?

When Mohammad Asif was caught at the Dubai International airport for possession of a banned substance, there were all sorts of reports. There was a report which claimed that Asif had pleaded innocence saying that the substance was given to him by a Hakim in Delhi while he was playing for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League. Majority of the reports claimed that he was in possession of hashish while a popular English news channel in India claimed that a white, powdered substance was found on him. The final verdict was opium. Later, the identity of the substance found on Asif stopped bothering people as it was revealed that the controversial pacer had tested positive for Nandrolone, a banned performance enhancing drug and a commonly used one at that during the IPL.

Asif and fellow Pakistani speedster Shaoib Akhtar had tested positive for Nandrolone once before and they were sent home from India. That was before the 2006 Champions Trophy. Asif got away cheaply as it was said that he had no knowledge of performance enhancing drugs. It seems that he does not believe in learning too.

Even if he didn’t know a thing about Nandrolone or performance enhancing drugs as such, he should have had a fair idea about the substance that was given to him by the Hakim, which no one is talking about anymore.

Well, Wasim Akram is talking. More interesting than the Asif saga is the former Pakistan captain’s take on it. Akram slammed Asif saying that the pacer had repeatedly brought shame to Pakistani cricket. The same Wasim Akram, who was caught smoking marijuana along with Aqib Javed, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed on a Grenada beach during Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies in 1992-93. The same Wasim Akram, whose decision to drop himself for the 1996 World Cup quarterfinal match against India in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) gave rise to a huge controversy in Pakistan. The same Wasim Akram, who in spite of his 502 scalps in one-day cricket (highest in ODIs), finds little or no favour in his country and spends most of his time in India. Not to talk about the ball-tampering or match-fixing allegations.

Cannabis and cricket have a long history though. From Ian Botham to Herschelle Gibbs, there have been quite a few instances of smoking pot. A number of Kiwi cricketers, including their captain Stephen Fleming were banned and fined for smoking marijuana in 1993. From time to time, there have been allegations of using recreational and other drugs against cricketers. The grey area is the punishment to be meted out in such a case by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) or any governing body of sports as these drugs do not squarely fall under the category of performance enhancing drugs. The million dollar question is, whether these drugs help a cricketer or not. While cricketers indulging into such activities could be viewed as another case of deviation, there are opinions that these substances could help a sportsman albeit for a limited period.

It is high time that the governing bodies in cricket and other sports engaged themselves in finding the answer to this solution. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) could lead the way. Maybe Wasim Akram would forget some of his bitter memories concerning the PCB and provide them with an interesting insight!