BCCI asks state associations to be more stringent on age-fudging

Age-fudging has been an issue in Indian cricket for years, but it came to the fore in December last year after Rahul Dravid raised it in the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture. The former India captain had also urged the BCCI to come up with measures to curb the menace in his speech. Months after the India U-19 coach’s speech, the BCCI took a historic step last month to stop age-fudging and had barred players from playing in multiple U-19 World Cups. Dravid had congratulated the BCCI on the move and had asked the Board to ensure that they accept any birth certificate issued by the competent authority within two years from the player’s date of birth.

“Another practice that is prevalent is people getting young kids at 10-12 to change schools and obtain new birth certificates. Unfortunately, I have heard that getting a new birth certificate isn’t too hard. The BCCI needs to make a rule that birth certificates are eligible only if they are dated within two years of the child’s birth.

“We might miss out on a few authentic guys who for some reason haven’t been able to obtain a birth certificate, but it will be a strong deterrent to the many wrongdoers and will make age group cricket a much fairer reflection of talent,” Dravid had told PTI last week.

Days after the former Indian captain’s wise words, the Board has come up with a set of guidelines, including on the fake birth certificates issue, to curb the menace of age-fudging.

"There are some cricketers who enter at the Under-19 age-group level. Such players should submit at least three documents to support their date of birth if they are to be considered to participate in the Under-19 tournaments directly without having entered the BCCI circuit at the Under-16 level," Ajay Shirke, the BCCI secretary, said in an e-mail to the state associations on July 1, reported ESPNcricinfo.

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Shirke also asked the state associations to be more vigilant on the matter and said that it is their responsibility to put an end to the problem of fake certificates.

"You are requested to discourage cricketers who submit birth certificates issued just a few years before," his email said. "As per the Government of India rules, the birth has to be registered within one year of the birth of the child."

The BCCI secretary also added that the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 method , which determines the age of the child based on bones in his hand, will be continued and only those who pass the test will be allowed to play in junior tournaments.

"Under-16 is the formal entry point for players participating in the BCCI Junior Tournaments and they have to undergo age verification process to be eligible. The age-verification process involves bone rating - TW3 method. Only those who pass the bone rating are eligible to play in the Under-16 tournaments," said Shirke, reported ESPNcricinfo. 

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