The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has expanded its testing pool for 2025 by including several prominent cricketers, such as Shubman Gill and Jasprit Bumrah. This move aims to strengthen the integrity of Indian cricket by broadening the Registered Testing Pool (RTP), which now includes 14 players from both the men’s and women’s teams, along with athletes from other sports disciplines.
NADA’s decision to add centrally contracted cricketers like Bumrah and Gill reflects its commitment to enhancing anti-doping efforts. Along with Bumrah and Gill, the RTP for 2025 includes Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, and Tilak Verma. Three women’s cricketers—Renuka Singh Thakur, Shafali Verma, and Deepti Sharma—are also part of the updated RTP. These players will be subject to more rigorous testing procedures as part of NADA’s initiative to ensure fairness in the sport.
NADA’s Dope Control Officers (DCOs) are set to collect samples from the players during the upcoming white-ball series against England, with testing occurring at multiple venues throughout the series. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been informed of these developments, and the players have been notified as well.
The RTP concept was introduced in 2019, initially including just five cricketers: Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma. In 2020, some players failed to provide their whereabouts for testing, but they were not penalized and instead received a warning. The BCCI explained that technical issues and the COVID-19 lockdown were responsible for the delay in providing the necessary information.
In 2020, Prithvi Shaw faced a doping suspension after testing positive for the banned substance Terbutaline. Despite Shaw’s claim of inadvertently consuming the substance, he was still suspended. Other players, including Yusuf Pathan, Pradeep Sangwan, and Anshula Rao, have also been suspended in the past for failing doping tests.