McCullum sheds lights on positive drug test in 2016

Former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has opened up about his positive drug test during his small stint with Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Gujarat Lions in 2016, saying that it was nothing like a "failed drug test."

"I certainly don't see it as a failed drug test. It was just a case of we just need to seek clarification and apply for this. "I have no ill-feeling about [the process] and I also have no guilt or remorse about it because I needed a puff of my inhaler at that time," he further said.

The 36-year-old, who has asthma since childhood, was reported to have exceeded the allowable limit for salbutamol, a drug that is used to treat asthma.

The urine sample of players was taken after the match between Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils at New Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, where McCullum scored 60 runs off 36 balls as Lions won the match by one run in an absolute thriller.

Keeping in view the bad air quality of the national capital at that time, the cricketer took more than the usual dose of his medicine, thus justifying the urine sample result.

After more than six months of struggle with the medical panel, the former Black Caps batsman secured a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE) which was issued by a panel of independent medical experts in Sweden.

"There was a bit of a process to go through to make sure they had all the information and ticked off the areas they wanted to see, but we went through it all and [the BCCI] was actually pretty good to work with, in the end," Stuff.co.nz quoted McCullum as saying.

TUE is a certificate stating that a substance is being administered to an athlete to treat a medical condition and not as a performance-enhancing drug.

McCullum, who bid adieu to the international cricket in 2016, recently played for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2018 edition of the IPL.