ISLAMABAD: Star wicketkeeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan had to use steroid ‘Gupisone’ for seven consecutive days to come out of an acute congestion as the doctors took time to submit retroactive Therapeutic Use Exemption Certificate (TUEC) with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
A detailed investigation conducted by ‘The News’ revealed that TUEC was never submitted with the ICC before injecting the player with Gupisone ahead of the T20 World Cup semi-finals against Australia in November 2021.
“It was an unprecedented situation as we had no time to submit TUEC as was required under the WADA rules. It was a matter of life and death and any undue delay could have serious repercussions,” Pakistan Cricket Board medical specialist Dr Najeebullah Soomro said when asked why the procedure was not followed.
The WADA in coordination with the ICC investigated the matter for almost four months and kept on communicating about why proper rules were not followed before administering steroids.
“ICC’s intent to carry out an investigation on the presence of Glucocorticoids (namely Prednisolone and Prednisone) in sample collected from Rizwan’s test during the World Cup to determine the route of administration of the prohibited substances detected and whether the detection of these substances amounted to an Adverse Analytical Finding,” the ICC's letter written to concerned in January 2022 says.
“Following Rizwan’s admission in hospital in November 2021, he was prescribed certain medication on discharge, including Gupisone. However, because of the short time period between your discharge and the match at which your sample was collected, there had not been time to review the list of discharge medications, hence they were not mentioned on the Doping Control Form, for which the doctor concerned apologized.”
Dr Najeebullah however added that he had verbally communicated to the ICC there and then and had no time to submit the required form. “We did not even know as to how long he had to take the medicine as it ultimately took seven days to complete the course. Secondly, the specialists had no other thought at that time but to save Rizwan. We were totally focused on batsmen’s health and wellbeing,” Dr Najeeb said.
The ICC and WADA also took a lenient view of the whole ordeal, ultimately deciding to close the case despite some apparent loopholes. “The retroactive TUE application was considered by the ICC Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee (TUEC) and approved for prednisolone with an effective date of November 9, 2021. This TUE was subsequently approved by the WADA.
"Following the approval of the retroactive TUE for prednisolone, the ICC submitted all relevant documentation relating to Rizwan’s case to the ICC’s Independent Review Board (IRB). Having reviewed the material, the IRB concluded that the presumptive Adverse Analytical Finding was consistent with an applicable TUE. As such, the ICC’s investigation is closed, and (subject to the rights of appeal set out in Code Article 13) this matter shall not proceed any further.”
Dr Soomro hoped that such a situation would never surface again. “I hope and pray that the batsman would stay fit and would never have to face such conditions in future. He is a clean and honest player, a true role model for the youngsters.”