Deandra Dottin has put out a statement on Twitter expressing disappointment and making some startling revelations about the events that transpired leading up to her exclusion from the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League.

Gujarat Giants had picked up the veteran West Indies all-rounder in the WPL auction earlier this year for 60 lacs, boosting their top-order batting resources. But before the first ball of the tournament was bowled, Gujarat Giants announced that Dottin had been ruled out of the competition as she was ‘recovering from a medical situation’. Australian all-rounder Kim Garth was named as her replacement.

A couple of days later, controversy erupted when Dottin took to social media to say that ‘she was recovering from nothing’ in response to ‘get well soon’ messages from her fans. That in turn prompted the Gujarat Giants to put out a statement that clarified they ‘were unable to obtain a medical clearance before the defined deadline for this season’ for Dottin, and that ‘subject to the clearance of her medical report, she will be part of the Gujarat Giants squad in the upcoming seasons’.

Dottin took to Twitter once again yesterday (March 19) to post a lengthy statement, detailing her account of the events which lead up to her exclusion.

“I remain deeply disappointed by what can only, plausibly, be described as bewildering reasoning for my omission from the tournament,” Dottin said. “I would like to make it clear that I had experienced minor abdominal pain and swelling for which I had sought treatment in December 2022. This was followed by two further referrals to specialists for second opinions in December and January 2023, respectively.

“Following testing and investigations by the specialists, I was asked to rest until February 13th and was cleared to resume fitness and playing activity from February 14th. Consequently, I recommenced my personal training and fitness regime according to the guided timelines and experienced some soreness on the first day of resumed training which was anticipated and reasonable.

“I was transparent about this in correspondence with the Gujarat Giants physiotherapist, however, this was misconstrued and later conveyed to members of the franchise’s management team as me ‘experiencing abdominal pain post-session’ which was not what I had indicated.”

Dottin said she was asked by Gujarat Giants to get medically assessed locally in Canada where she was residing, before she received a message from the management.

“To my shock, I was then forwarded email correspondence from the Giants’ physiotherapist, that included the following demand ‘Deandra Dottin is strictly advised to submit her fitness report along with recent scan by 26/02/2023. She will be deemed unfit for T20 matches in the WPL if she doesn’t comply.’

“The request was sent on Saturday 25th February with the deadline provided being the following day – Sunday – making it near impossible to administer all stipulated medical tests, particularly over a weekend.”

In her social media statement, Dottin wrote that she received an email on February 27 from the Head of Adani Sportsline (the owners of the Gujarat Giants franchise) breaking the news to her that they would formally look to replace her for this season of the WPL. Dottin claimed that the medical clearance that Gujarat Giants had mentioned in their statement on March 5, was not something that was required of the other players in the league.

“To the best of my knowledge, other players had not been requested to partake in medical testing nor require medical clearance as a requisite to participating in the tournament. Furthermore, I am bewildered as to why, having been cleared to resume training by multiple surgeons, it was insisted upon by the franchise that I repeat medical testing and produce medical clearance that had already been provided.”

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