New Delhi: In a massive revelation, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Chetan Sharma has claimed that many Indian cricketers take injections to pass the fitness test when they are 80 per cent fit, adding that they play smart to avoid the doping thing.
In a sensational sting operation, the 57-year-old was heard saying that Indian players have their own doctors outside of cricket, who are always available for them.
"If they are fit for only 85 per cent... they tell us to let them play but medical science doesn't clear them, this problem comes...the player wants to play, the player never refuses. But like (Jasprit) Bumrah, he was not even able to bow down then what will he do.. One or two such major injuries happen.
"Otherwise even at 80 per cent these people...they are such scoundrels, they will silently go to the corner and take an injection and say that they are fit," Sharma told a news channel.
"Not a pain killer. They take injections and no one gets to know about it. The player will have to take a prescription for a pain killer and he will get caught in anti-doping, they know directly which injection won't come in anti-doping. They are big superstars. They will make one phone call. There are a thousand doctors, they will come at night and give them an injection," he added.
Asked how he allowed such things to happen, Sharma said it's impossible to keep a 24x7 eye on players.
"You play matches... you stay in the ground till 6 pm... there is team management .. there is everything .. but when it settles down. You get off the bus and go back to your room. I can't keep a man following you all the time. what are you doing, where are you going, whom are you meeting," Sharma claimed.
"I also have a life... I also have to go somewhere.. I have to walk, I have to go to dinner, everyone has their own things to do," he added.
In the video, which has now gone viral on social media, the shief selector also revealed that there was a huge clash of ego between former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and ex-BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, which eventually led to the former's ouster as captain.
"When the player becomes a little big, he feels that he has become very big.. He has become bigger than the board. Then he feels that no one can do anything to him. He can't even bend my hair. Without me, cricket will stop in India. Has it ever happened? Many big ones came and went. Cricket remains the same. So, he tried to hit the president at that time," he said.
"He (Virat) said.. Sourav Ganguly had never said this to me (about re-considering the captaincy role). So it became a big issue. Either the president lied, or Virat is telling the truth. It became a big issue... then there was an uproar.
"This is the dispute of the ego. He (Virat) says I am big...He (Ganguly) says I am big. Sourav Ganguly has also been the captain of the country. Very big captain, most trustworthy..and he is called the most successful captain even today. Virat feels that he is the most successful.. He (Virat) said he (Ganguly) is lying.. then there was a confrontation," he added.