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Kagiso Rabada cleared to play again after serving doping suspension

Published

8 months ago

2025/05/6

Priyan

Kagiso Rabada had left the IPL after playing two matches to serve his suspension [Cricinfo]

South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has served a one-month ban, commuted from three months, for drug use during the SA20 earlier this year.

A statement issued by the South African Institute for Drug Free Sports (SAIDS) confirmed Rabada had failed a doping test on January 21, after the match between MI Cape Town and Durban Super Giants, and he was notified of the result on April 1 when he was in India for IPl 2025. On April 3, his IPL franchise Gujarat Titans (GT) said Rabada had returned to South Africa for personal reasons after playing only two matches this season.

According to SAIDS, Rabada has since participated in an education and awareness programme to prevent further substance abuse. He can resume playing immediately and could return to action as soon as Tuesday, when GT play Mumbai Indians (MI).

Rabada’s sanction is in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) punishment for use of a recreational drug – including cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine or diamorphine. A similar punishment was handed to New Zealand’s Doug Bracewell last year after he tested positive for cocaine during the Super Smash.

However, there are instances of longer suspensions, which are up to individual boards. Last year, Zimbabwe’s Wessley Madhevere and Brandon Mavuta were banned from playing for four months each and fined 50% of their salaries for three months after testing positive for a recreational drug. In that instance, Zimbabwe Cricket chose to impose a sanction longer than the WADA recommendations.

It is not expected that Cricket South Africa will impose further punishment on Rabada after it issued a statement on Saturday afternoon calling the incident “regrettable”. CSA is satisfied with Rabada’s “commitment to upholding professional standards” after he apologised through the South African Cricketers’ Association when news of his positive drug test broke at the weekend.

“I am deeply sorry to all those that I have let down,” Rabada said. “I will never take the privilege of playing cricket for granted. This privilege is much larger than me. It goes beyond my personal aspirations.”

With the matter considered closed, Rabada will be available for South Africa for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia next month, where he is crucial to their chances. Rabada was South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in the 2023-2025 WTC cycle with 47 wickets at an average of 19.97.

However, not everyone considers the case to be as open and shut as CSA.

Speaking to SEN Radio, former Australia captain Tim Payne was critical of the statement initially issued by GT to explain Rabada’s absence from the IPL.

“It stinks. I don’t like this use around ‘personal issues’, and it being used to hide stuff that isn’t a personal issue,” Paine told SEN Radio on Monday. “If you have a professional sportsman that’s tested for recreational drugs during a tournament in which he is playing, that doesn’t fall under personal issues for me. That falls under you have broken your contract.

“That is not a personal issue, that is something that is happening in your personal life. Taking drugs – recreational or performance enhancing – is not a personal issue that can just be hidden for a month. A guy can be taken out of the IPL, moved back to South Africa, and we just let it slide under the rug. Then we will bring him back once he’s already served his ban.”

ESPNcricinfo contacted CSA and SACA officials multiple times after Rabada returned home from the IPL and were told he was dealing with a “personal issue”, while some officials claimed not to know anything about why he had come home.

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Latest News

Over 1,500 flights cancelled as winter storm Devin hits US holiday travel

Published

6 hours ago

2025/12/27

Priyan

Crews spray de-icer on an American Airlines plane during a winter storm at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, US, in 2023 [File: Aljazeera]

Thousands of flights have been cancelled and delayed in the United States due to winter storm Devin, airline monitoring website FlightAware reports, dealing a blow to air travel during peak holiday time.

A total of 1,581 flights “within, into or out of the” US were cancelled and 6,883 delayed as of 4pm US Eastern Time (21:00 GMT) on Friday, according to FlightAware, which describes itself as the world’s largest flight tracking data company.

The delays and cancellations came as the US National Weather ⁠Service warned of winter storm Devin causing “hazardous travel conditions” and heavy snow forecast across parts of the Midwest and northeast.

More than 40 million Americans were under winter storm warnings or weather advisories on Friday, plus another 30 million under flood or storm advisories in California, where a so-called atmospheric river has brought a deluge of rain.

New York City, the largest US city, was bracing for up to 250mm (10 inches) of snow overnight on Friday, the most expected in four years. Temperatures were forecast to drop into the weekend when an Arctic blast is expected to swoop down from Canada.

New York’s John F Kennedy airport, ⁠Newark Liberty international airport and LaGuardia airport warned travellers of potential delays or cancellations. More than half of the flight cancellations and delays took place at these three airports, according to FlightAware.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Thailand and Cambodia agree on ceasefire to end weeks of deadly fighting

Published

6 hours ago

2025/12/27

Priyan

Cambodia's defence minister Tea Seiha, left, and Thailand's defence minister Nattaphon Narkphanit, right, shake hands and exchange documents following a ceasefire agreement on on Saturday [Aljazeera]

Thailand and Cambodia said they have signed a ⁠ceasefire agreement to end weeks of fierce fighting along their border that has killed more than 100 people and displaced more than half a million civilians in both countries.

“Both sides agree to an immediate ceasefire after the time of signature of this Joint Statement,” ‍the Thai and Cambodian defence ⁠ministers said in a statement on Saturday.

“Both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement,” the ministers said.

The ceasefire took effect at noon local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday [27] and extends to “all types of weapons” and “attacks on civilians, civilian objects and infrastructures, and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas”.

Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig, reporting from the Cambodian border city of Poipet, said the “guns seem to have fallen silent” as both sides adhered to the truce.

“But I must tell you, right up until the point of that ceasefire being implemented, there was some intense firing going on… really, really intense – right up until that moment. And it kind of gives you the idea of how fragile this actually is,” Baig said.

“That doesn’t instil a great deal of confidence in people here who want to return home and will be watching if this ceasefire will hold,” he said.

[Aljazeera]