Catch them young: BCCI new rule to curb age fraud

Almost four years after adopting some additional measures to tackle age and domicile fraud in cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly moving to introduce another new age verification rule— a need of the hour given the size of cricket players in India.

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The concept of “Catch Them Young” is now being expanded—not just to identify emerging talent early, but also to detect and prevent manipulation by individuals seeking quick fame through dishonest means. The relentless obsession with producing the next Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, or Virat Kohli has, in some cases, led to unethical practices that compromise the integrity of the sport. And, perhaps, this was the reason that the BCCI has planned to bring another rule for stopping age fraud cases.

On August 3, 2020, the BCCI adopted a ‘Voluntary Disclosure Scheme for registered players’. Under this scheme, players were given a chance to voluntarily declare any manipulation in their date of birth by submitting fake/tampered documents in the past. On revelling, the BCCI ensured non-suspension of the defaulters. “However, if registered players failed disclose the facts and are found to have submitted fake/tampered DOB proof documents by BCCI, then they will be banned for two years, and after completion of two-year suspension, they will not be allowed to participate in age group tournaments of BCCI, as well as, age group tournaments organised by the state units,” the BCCI had added.

The BCCI also included-- cricketers committing domicile fraud will be banned for years and the voluntary disclosure scheme was not applied for cricketers who have committed domicile fraud. For the BCCI U-16 tournament, only players who are between 14-16 years old were permitted to register. And, in the U-19 age group, if a player’s birth was found to be registered more than two years after birth, the BCCI announced restrictions on the number of years allowed to participate in the BCCI tournaments. Previously, on October 4 2019, the BCCI had provided helpline numbers to all cricketers, team support staff and administrators of all state cricket associations to report incidences of age and domicile fraud. A banner with helpline numbers were to be displayed inside dressing rooms across all venues where cricket matches were played during the BCCI’s Domestic season 2019-20.

Existing test, challenges

As per the existing norms, a player undergoes a bone test for age determination via the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) used for assessing bone age and a +1 factor is added to determine his or her eligibility for the next season in the same age group. Not only the BCCI, but other sports associations also followed the same procedure. While BCCI has a good number of resources and they have implemented it across the nation, the other sports associations usually hesitate to use this procedure— given the price of the test and availability of registered medical practitioners in some states. However, despite the existence of the current TW3 test, many age fraud cases have been reported across the nation.