Why do cricketers dope?

Sentencing a man to life for a traffic violation is certainly a deterrent but is it equitable?

Cannot remember the nature of Shah's crimes but the ban is perhaps commensurate with the crime!

It is possible the penalties require revision but punishment should be punitive but not draconian in my view.

If you look at the volume of players playing cricket, it seems a very tiny proportion indulge.

For all the doping measures in cycling Lance Armstrong fooled the best for so long and that to me is worthy of being stripped not of all the titles but of his $125m net worth.

The punishment needs to fit the crime. But when we have different governing bodies ruling various different sports dishing out different punishments then we're never going to get any form of consistency. WADA have tried and are still trying to establish a coordinated approach between the different sporting bodies but while everyone agrees that drugs have no place in sport, I think those in charge are still scared of what banning certain so called 'names' would do.

We need to get real.

If my countryman cheats compared to a Guyanan... I would be more lenient with the Guyanan as he is more likely to be influenced because of their relative economic position.

Guyanans are akin to the  Soviet block in the West Indies, deprived and wanting to flee so why would you dish out the same punishment compared  to somebody who has a relatively lucrative lifestyle and is greedy?

Makes no sense... Stick by the country booky Guyanan....

But we can't have one rule for one and another rule for somebody else if they have committed the same offence. Should we let the Russian athletes compete in the Olympics because they are poor, but if the UK or USA athletes committed the same offences they would get banned?

I understand that people will cheat for different reasons, and some of the reasons you could also say are almost justifiable, but at the end of the day it's still cheating so tough. You take the risk, so if you get caught you pay the price, no matter who you are or where you come from.

Agree. It is the same across other "industries" for lack of a better word. It seems that the greater your name, or the richer/more powerful you are, the more likely you are to get away with something because people are afraid. It's especially true in politics, I think.

A better analogy may be a religious convert

IF the convert commit a transgression, it is a lesser Sin

than the born into individual.

As someone born into a religion, I approve and applaud your better analogy. LOL

Mail would disagree.

As a Convert he transforming to a Saboteur

dunno how the "Deen" went awry !  :-[

Ameer batting as we speak at # 10

In my any sport, when athletes dope, the risk reward ratio is always against them, because when they get caught their entire career is impacted.

I think they do it for temporary gains and to cement their place in the team which has become a achievement among itself these days with so much competition to get in the team.

Probably because of rumors that the other players are doping so they all end up getting doped up. I hate that doping has been a thing for many decades, but it's just the way the game goes.

How about we just allow everyone on the team dope and then there won't be any unfair advantages, that's a good thing right. There is no guarantee that ones performance is going to be any better.