Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers – Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Smriti Mandhana, KL Rahul and Deepti Sharma – have been issued a notice by the National Anti-Doping Agency [ NADA ].

The five cricketers, part of a 110-member pool, reportedly failed to disclose their whereabouts to NADA, with BCCI claiming a “password glitch” as the reason for the delay. The cricketers are part of a larger group of 40 athletes that have been issued a notice by NADA.

If an athlete receives three such notices within an 18-month period, they can be suspended for up to four years, according to NADA’s anti-doping rules.

Navin Agarwal, the director-general of NADA, told PTI that the athletes themselves, or their federation, are required to fill the whereabouts forms in the anti-doping software, stating that, in the cricketers’ case, BCCI has taken up the responsibility to fill forms on their behalf.

Agarwal added that BCCI has cited a “password glitch” as the reason for the delay, an explanation that will have to be discussed to decide the next course of action.

“Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. BCCI’s explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here.”