A cricketer has three birth years! Two-year ban for age fraud

Although it is impossible in reality, on paper, India Under-19 leg-spinner Rohit Yadav has three birth years—2008, 2009 and 2010. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has banned him from all forms of cricket for two years due to such discrepancies in age information.

Rohit had played for the India Under-19 team in the Sri Lanka tour a month ago. However, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) found discrepancies in his age while verifying the pre-season documents of their players. According to a PTI report, three different birth certificates were found in Rohit's name—2008, 2009 and 2010.

Not only in the birth certificate, but also in Rohit's Aadhaar card information, there was a major discrepancy. His birth year in the CAB registration was 2007. Again, in the Aadhaar records updated in 2017 and 2020, his birth year was 2006. Later in 2021, that information was changed to 2009.

After receiving such a discrepancy in age, Rohit was also withdrawn from the India Under-19 team for the upcoming tour of Australia. After which, the BCCI banned him for two years based on the investigation.

Rohit is not alone. CAB has banned 64 other cricketers due to similar age discrepancies. The list of those banned also includes Ravi Kumar, the pacer of the 2022 Under-19 World Cup-winning Indian team.

In the case of Ravi Kumar, the age discrepancy was more than 40 months, according to cricket-based website Cricinfo. All his age-based cricket records will be considered invalid until the 2025-26 season.

The BCCI has taken strict steps before to prevent age fraud. In 2020, the board proposed a general amnesty system along with punishment. Under that rule, registered cricketers would have the opportunity to avoid a temporary ban if they voluntarily admitted their age discrepancy and submitted the correct date of birth. However, a provision was also made for them to face a ban if they were found to have violated the rules again later.

The Rohit Yadav incident has once again highlighted the need for transparency in documentation and prevention of age fraud in age-based cricket.