Now, Gautam Gambhir under dope scanner

Gautam Gambhir has used corticosteroid injections for his recurring shoulder injury but he may not have procured the exemption certificate which is mandatory for usage of such drugs.

The letter that Knight Riders physio Andrew Leipus wrote to BCCI regarding Gambhir’s injury states that the player had used “corticosteroid injections” earlier.

Interestingly, the corticosteroid injection is under banned drugs list of WADA and a sportsperson needs to get Therapeutic Usage Exemption Certificate (TUEC) from National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) or WADA to use the drug. According to director general of NADA Rahul Bhatnagar, neither the cricketer nor the BCCI had procured TUEC from the them.

According to Dr PSM Chandran, the president of Indian Federation of Sports Medicine, TUEC is a must for any sportsperson as there are chances that one may get caught if there is a random dope test. Since BCCI had always opposed to the controversial ‘whereabouts clause’, Gambhir didn’t have to go through any out of competition testing.