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Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma was embroiled in a major controversy on Tuesday after he disclosed confidential selection matters pertaining to the Indian team, during a sting operation conducted by a TV channel, claiming that the country's top cricketers are taking injections so that they are able to play despite not being fully fit.
The former India pacer revealed that India's players take injections to expedite their match fitness when they are coming back from injuries.
“The players are not fit but they take injections to play. They are ready to play even at 80 per cent fitness. They take injections and start playing," Sharma said in the sting operation video on Zee News channel.
"Even if they are around 85 percent fit, they will say 'Sir let us play' but they are not cleared by the medical team that is where the problem lies. The players always want to play, they never refuse to play."
"Bumrah could not even bend so what can he do? 1-2 such major injuries happen. Otherwise even at 80 percent (fitness) they are so naughty that they quietly sneak into a corner and take the injection and say 'Sir we are fit'.
When asked if the injections are pain killers? Sharma replied: "It is an injection, not pain killer. We don't even know that they have taken the injection. For pain killer, they need a prescription, it can also come under doping.
"With regards to injection, they know which injections don't come under anti-doping.
So do they take the injections themselves?
"If they can take a cook on tour, they are such big superstars won't they get a doctor? There are 1000s of doctors sitting around, one phone call and they will land at their house.
When asked by the reporter why the selectors are unable to know which players are guilty, Sharma replied: "How will we know about it? You play a match, you are in the ground till 6pm, the team management is there. Then they take the bus from the ground to the team hotel, they reach the hotel and go their own rooms. I won't have someone keeping an eye on them all the time, what they are doing, where they are going...
"I have my own life. I have to go out, go for a walk, or for a dinner, we all have our own plans. I don't know who is breaking the rules."
"99.9 percent of the players first report to the NCA, there are just 0.5 percent of them who feel that they do such a thing, they might doing also but we don't know. We cannot say that he is doing it or we cannot say that he is not doing it. It doesn't reach us. How many things will we know? 2500 boys are playing."