Players found guilty of age-fudging will now be banned for two-seasons, reveals CoA
The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has doubled the ban from the existing one-year period for players found to be guilty of age-fudging. The CoA has even ruled that the players submitting false or tampered-with birth certificates (age fudging) could face criminal action from the BCCI.
The CoA focused on the issue of age-fudging at a meeting in Delhi in May and the committee discussed the amplitude of this problem which is now a prominent feature in India’s domestic system, especially in age group cricket. CoA took this decision in accordance with the Indian legal system, so as to make sure that the game is played in a fair manner and each individual gets an equal opportunity to showcase his/her talent.
“Players who are found to have submitted a false or tampered birth certificate will now be banned from all BCCI tournaments for two seasons. These players can also face a criminal action by the BCCI,” CoA said.
Three years prior to this decision, Rahul Dravid had called for a regulation check at the state and academy levels to stop age-fudging and said that it was just as bad as fixing. Dravid mentioned about having a centralized database of birth certificates in addition to the already existing bone-density test.
“The players who get selected at the junior level by submitting false certificates are not better or more talented than others. They get selected just because they are stronger and bigger. One or two years at that age makes a huge difference. On top of that we might even lose an honest player who will have a misconception about his or her talent,” said Rahul in his MAK Pataudi lecture.