Treat cricketers differently - Yuvraj

Yuvraj Singh has hit back at the criticism over the Indian cricketers' decision to reject the World Anti Doping Agency's regulations concerning drug testing, asking for cricketers to be treated differently from other sportsmen.

"Their sports and our sport is different," he said. "We play more and we get very little time with our families and I feel we are travelling more. We are playing a lot of time in a year and we should be given more space, with due respect to other sports."

The 11 Indian cricketers in the ICC's testing pool have raised concerns that the code's 'whereabouts' clause that will require them to divulge information about their location three months in advance and say that this that could violate privacy and threaten their security. However, several top Indian athletes previously tested by WADA have said the code does not infringe on privacy.

The extensive travelling, Yuvraj said, gave India's cricketers too few days to spend at home each year. "After nine months of playing, we come home for just ten days," he told news channel CNN-IBN. "We don't want somebody to intrude upon our privacy for dope tests during that small period. We have put out our points in front of the BCCI and they will speak to the ICC."

The Indian sports minister MS Gill endorsed the view of some of India's leading athletes who've expressed no problems subscribing to the code, saying all national sports bodies and players should support the WADA and adhere to its regulations. The BCCI plans to ask the ICC to walk out of the WADA umbrella and develop a cricket-specific anti-doping code, but cricket's governing body is unlikely to support such a suggestion.