Kagiso Rabada’s legal team helped to ensure the Proteas fast bowler only served a one-month suspension for recreational drug use.
According to Rapport, the urine sample Rabada provided on 21 January after MI Cape Town’s SA20 match against Durban’s Super Giants at Kingsmead showed traces of benzoylecgonine (BZE), a metabolite of cocaine.
Rabada’s legal team was able to prove that he had used the cocaine out of competition as the concentration was less than 1,000 nanograms per millilitre, indicating the use of cocaine, but not on the day of the test.
Rabada also declined the option of having his B sample tested.
“He was smart to go down that route,” Khalid Galant, CEO of the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids), told Rapport. “If you know you did it, it saves you time and legal fees.”
Rabada left the Gujarat Titans squad in early April for “personal reasons” having played just two matches in the IPL, before admitting to failing a drug test.
“I am deeply sorry to all those that I have let down,” he said in a statement. “I will never take the privilege of playing cricket for granted. This privilege is much larger than me. It goes beyond my personal aspirations.”
After serving his one-month suspension, Rabada returned to India but did not play in their next match against the Mumbai Indians, with Gujarat captain Shubman Gill claiming he needed more net time.
The IPL was then suspended for a week due to the India-Pakistan conflict.
Photo: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images
