Anik banned till February 2021 for doping offence

The Bangladesh Cricket Board officially announced today that Kazi Anik, a 21-year-old pacer on the domestic circuit who represented Bangladesh in the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, tested positive for a prohibited substance in November 2018 and accepted a two-year suspension for his first doping offence.

The player tested positive for Methamphetamine (d-) during an in-competition test conducted on 06 November, 2018 in Cox's Bazar. He admitted the offence and accepted a two-year suspension for an anti-doping rule violation involving his use of prohibited substance, the release said.

The substance is included as a stimulant, prohibited under section S6a of the 2018 ICC Prohibited list and consequently prohibited under the BCB Anti-Doping code 2.1, which has adapted the ICC Anti-Doping code.

According to the code, it is athlete's personal duty to ensure that prohibited substances enter his or her body. Furthermore, each athlete is responsible for any prohibited substances found in their bodily specimen, regardless of how it entered their body.

According to the press release, taking into account Articles 10.10.1, 10.10.2, 10.10.3 of the BCB Anti-Doping Code, and the fact that this is the player's first anti-doping rule violation, the two-year period of ineligibility commenced on February 8 last year -- the day of formal notification of the player's adverse analytical finding and the day upon which he accepted a provisional suspension

"He will therefore be re-eligible to participate in cricket and cricket activities at midnight on 07 February 2021," the release said. "According to the BCB Anti-Doping Code (Article 9 and 10.8), all individual results of the athlete obtained from 6th November, 2018, day of sample collection, shall be disqualified. This includes the forfeit of any medals, points and prizes."

Onik, a left-arm pace bowler, has played four first-class matches, 26 List A games and nine T20s – including in the Bangladesh Premier League -- since his debut as a professional cricketer in April 2017.