Andre Russell banned for a year for violating doping code

What’s the story?

West Indies star all-rounder Andre Russell has been banned from playing cricket by an independent anti-doping panel for one year after violating doping codes. He failed to file his whereabouts for three doping tests, and now finds himself out of the game till at least January 2018.

A three-member tribunal, comprising of Hugh Faulkner, Dr Marjorie Vassell and Dixeth Palmer, delivered the verdict on the 31st January. According to the rules, the 12-month period is equivalent to failing a dope test, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s guidelines. The all-rounder might appeal for the ban, as was confirmed by his lawyer, Patrick Foster.

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The 28-year old, who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, had earlier talked to the Jamaican Observer, stating why he had missed out on filing his reports because of his busy cricketing commitments "Honestly, I'm being positive and I haven't been thinking about anything else that I want to do apart from playing cricket; doing what I love".

Whereabouts is the data that is given by select athletes about their location to the International Sport Federation (IF) or National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) that included them in their registered testing pool. The process is a section of the top athletes' anti-doping responsibilities.

He recently sustained an injury to his hamstring during the Big Bash, where he represented the Sydney Thunders. Earlier, he had stirred a controversy by sporting a black coloured bat, which was banned first, but was eventually allowed after modifications.

The heart of the matter

The charge was put by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) in March 2016, just after Russell found a place in the West Indies squad for the World T20 in India. The period of suspension ranges from January 31, 2017 and will end on January 30, 2018. WADA rules state that athletes across all sports have to inform their local anti-doping agencies about their whereabouts least one hour every day for facilitating drug tests.

The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADC) put charges against Russell in March 2016 for not filing in his whereabouts on January 1, and twice in July in 2015.

In Russell’s defence, his cricketing commitments prevented him from getting enough time to file his whereabouts, and had delegated the work to two members of the JADCO to complete the process. In return, JADCO was quick to state that the players had been offered enough information about the paperwork, and that Russell’s case was that of “gross negligence”.

What's next?

The immediate ramifications of the ban mean that Russell won’t be part of the Pakistan Super League, slated to start on February 9. If the ban stays in place, Russell won’t be able to represent Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. His PSL team, Islamabad United, has already roped in Steven Finn as a replacement.

Sportskeeda’s take

Interestingly, the period of violating goes back to 2015. Since then, Russell has participated in T20 tournaments around the world, winning the World T20, the PSL, the Big Bash and the Caribbean Premier League. It’ s a shame that one of T20 cricket’ s biggest entertainers has been suspended from playing the game, but a strict crackdown is required on players, especially when it comes to doping in sports. The punishment for Russell’ s deeds, however, is something to ponder about, for a year is a huge period for an athlete to be out of the game.