Another city cricketer banned for age fraud

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

A week after one of the U-23 cricketers from the city was banned for age fraud, another case emerged today. This time, the BCCI has banned an U-19 player for the offence.

The cricketer, whose name has been withheld, represented Chandigarh in five matches during the ongoing Cooch Behar Trophy.

Notably, Chandigarh have made it to the quarterfinals of the Cooch Behar Trophy and will take on hosts Vidarbha for a place in the semis from January 26.

“Yes, one player has been found guilty of committing age fraud. The player was part of the UTCA squad for the Cooch Behar Trophy and has been handed a two-year ban for the act,” confirmed a UTCA representative.

The player was banned after it came to the light that he had provided a different age proof while playing for Chandigarh in the School Nationals.

Sources privy to the matter confirmed that in past the player had played with a “different date of birth” and “it did not match with his recently submitted age proof”.

The cricketer had also played many inter-district tournaments for now defunct Chandigarh Cricket Association, affiliated to Punjab.

“This is the second incident and in both the cases the defaulters were caught on the basis of providing different date of birth proofs for different tournaments. It’s really shocking that players from a city like Chandigarh have committed such frauds. As the UTCA has just entered the system, they should set up a proper system to spot such kind of frauds and encourage genuine players,” said one of the UTCA members.

9 more players on radar

Sources in the local cricketing circles, meanwhile, said there were nearly nine more players who were under the BCCI lens. “There are at least nine more players from both U-23 and U-19 squads who are under the BCCI lens. Some of them are even playing in the senior age group. In most cases either the date of birth is hand written or the proof has been tampered with. Though the players have provided affidavits, the BCCI is strict on dealing with age fraud,” said a source.