The Indian Premier League is operated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). New controversies keep emerging from time to time in this league and whenever a player is seen violating the rules, there is a provision of strict punishment to deal with such situations. Recently, the incidents of smoking e-cigarettes have attracted everyone’s attention, but if a player comes to the field after drinking alcohol, then what action will be taken against him?

First of all, know whether a player can come on the field after drinking alcohol or consuming any banned drugs or not. India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) closely monitors the players and BCCI follows the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). It is not necessary that players have drug test before every match in IPL, but NADA and WADA can suddenly send a notice to the player at any time of the day. In response to this notice, the player has to be present at the appointed time at the place where he was ordered to come.

Consumption of any kind of drugs or alcohol can be tested through urine sample, blood or saliva. BCCI is very strict regarding the consumption of banned substances, hence players must think 10 times before entering the field after drinking alcohol.

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Still, if a player comes on the field after consuming alcohol, what punishment will he receive? The act of coming on the field after consuming alcohol or any drugs will be considered an attempt to ‘bring the game into disrepute’ under Article 2.21 of the BCCI Code of Conduct. For such actions, the player’s match fee may be deducted or demerit points may also be given. He may also be given a warning.

Since NADA and WADA also keep a close watch on such activities, who can ban that player for a few weeks to a few months or even several years. If a player is repeatedly found under the influence of alcohol, he may have to face a lifetime ban under anti-doping rules.

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India’s national anti-doping body NADA is currently in action mode. During IPL 2026, Delhi Capitals captain Akshar Patel and Sunrisers Hyderabad opening batsman Abhishek Sharma have been included in the registered testing pool. All players who are included in the registered testing pool will have to provide their location to NADA and be available for testing on the day of testing. But what is this dope test and what punishment can a cricketer face if he fails in it?

What is doping test?

Most of the athletes in the sports world have to undergo ‘doping test’. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appears to be more active especially in big events like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games. Doping test is conducted so that it can be found out whether any athlete has consumed banned drugs.

The athlete’s urine sample, blood sample, saliva or sweat sample can also be taken for testing. In this, it is ascertained whether any athlete has consumed steroids, banned pain killer medicines, testosterone increasing or energy enhancing drugs. The most interesting aspect of this test is that NADA can send a notice for dope test to the athlete at any time without any notice.

What is the punishment for failure?

According to NADA rules, if an athlete fails in a dope test, he can be banned for 2-4 years. At the same time, if the athlete repeatedly fails the dope test, he can also be sentenced to a lifetime ban. It is not very long ago that in the year 2025, Tamil Nadu sprinter Dhanalakshmi Shekhar was banned for 8 years.

Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw also failed in dope test once. It was February 2019, when Prithvi Shaw was caught consuming a banned drug during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. It was later revealed that Shaw had accidentally consumed a banned drug, yet he had to face an 8-month ban.

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Amidst IPL 2026, surprising news has come to light regarding Delhi Capitals captain Akshar Patel and Sunrisers Hyderabad vice-captain Abhishek Sharma. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has taken a big decision regarding these two cricketers. It has been told in the report that both will have a dope test, and both the players will have to give information about their whereabouts. Actually, NADA has included Abhishek and Akshar in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP).

In the latest list of 348 players included in RTP, Abhishek Sharma and Akshar Patel have replaced Smriti Mandhana and Shreyas Iyer. All these players will have to inform the anti-doping agency about their whereabouts and will have to be available for testing at a fixed time daily. Failure to report your whereabouts three times is considered a doping violation.

Total 14 cricketers in NADA list

India’s Test and ODI team captain Shubhman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh and Tilak Verma are included in this list as before. Indian women’s cricket team’s all-rounders Deepti Sharma, Shefali Verma and Renuka Singh Thakur, who created history by winning the ODI World Cup last year, remain in this list. Overall, 14 cricketers have been included in this list of NADA.

Most of the players in this list of NADA are associated with athletics. Last time their number was 118 which has now increased to 134. These include prominent names like steeplechase athlete Avinash Sable, hurdler Jyoti Yaraji, decathlon player Tejaswin Shankar and sprint runner Animesh Kujur. Long jump contestants Shaili Singh and M Sreeshankar and shot put athlete Tajinderpal Singh Toor have also been included in this list. Archery experienced players Deepika Kumari, Rakesh Kumar and famous para archer Sheetal Devi are included in this list of NADA.

From hockey, Manpreet Singh, captain Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas and Hardik Singh as well as women’s team captain Salima Tete, Savita Poonia and Navneet Kaur are also part of this list. Eight players from badminton have been included in it, the prominent ones being PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Gayatri Gopichand. 22 boxers are included in this list. These include world medalists Nikhat Zareen, Nishant Dev and Jasmine Lamboria as well as Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain. 31 players from wrestling have been included in this list. These include Olympic bronze medalist Aman Sehrawat.