The series played between India and England is going to start from Kolkata. The first T20 match will be played on Wednesday 22 January. But just before this match, NADA, the agency working against doping in the country, has taken a big decision. It has included many big cricketers of India in its Registered Testing Pool (RTP). This includes 14 players including Test team vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, star wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant and ODI team vice-captain Shubhman Gill. Will NADA collect samples of these players and test them during the entire series?

Why did NADA take this step?

Before knowing why NADA took this step, let us know who is included in its list. For the year 2025, apart from Suryakumar Yadav, Pant, Gill and Bumrah, NADA has also included Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson and Tilak Verma in the RTP. Among the women players, the names of stormy opener Shefali Verma, all-rounder Deepti Sharma and fast bowler Renuka Singh Thakur are included.

There is no need for any player or fan to panic due to this step of NADA. Because it has included these star players in the list of investigation under its anti-doping program. Through these, the agency tries to spread awareness about doping among other athletes. Therefore, during the White Ball Series, he will collect samples of some players and test them at different venues.

have done this before too

NADA has not taken this step for the first time. Even before this, it has been putting big players in the testing pool for its program. For 2019, he selected KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma. Let us tell you that in 2020, these four players had failed to follow the rules of NADA, after which the agency left them with a warning. BCCI had said that due to lockdown and password glitch, players were not able to follow the rules.

Let us tell you that after coming in the list of NADA, the athlete has to give information about his residence, training, email address as well as phone number. So that the sample can be collected on time. If players fail to do so within 12 months, it is considered a violation of doping rules. And the agency has the right to take action.