The Board of Control for Cricket in India has taken the biggest action so far against cricketers playing by hiding their age. BCCI has suspended more than 60 players of Bengal Cricket Association (CAB) together on charges of making fake documents. This big decision has created panic in the entire Indian domestic cricket. The surprising thing is that in this case of age fraud, big names like fast bowler Ravi Kumar, who won the Under-19 World Cup in 2022, and leg spinner Rohit Yadav, who recently made a place in Team India Junior, are also involved. Let us know in this article how this whole scam came to light and why BCCI is so strict on this.
How did this big game of age fraud come to light?
When the Bengal Cricket Association started checking the documents of all its players in preparation for the new domestic season, this big game was exposed. During this investigation, the data of school certificate, birth certificate and Aadhar card of the players were matched with each other. During verification, it came to light that there was a huge difference between the official documents and the real age of many cricketers. When CAB's internal investigation proved this huge discrepancy in documents, they without any delay sent the entire list of suspected players to BCCI. Immediately after this, the board took a tough stance and banned all these cricketers from playing.
Same player got 3 birth certificates
The biggest shock in age fraud has been to Bengal's emerging leg spinner Rohit Yadav, who was recently selected in the Indian Under-19 squad for the home series against Australia. Earlier, he had also been a part of the Indian junior team on the Sri Lanka tour in July. During the investigation, shocking fraud was detected in his documents, where three different birth certificates were found in his name with birth years of 2007, 2009 and 2010. Along with this, huge irregularities were also found in his Aadhaar records and school documents. In view of this serious fraud, BCCI has imposed a strict ban of 2 years on Rohit Yadav, due to which he will not be able to play in any domestic match or board related tournament for the next two years.
CAB Bars 65 Cricketers Over Alleged Age Fraud 🚨
The Cricket Association of Bengal has barred 65 cricketers following allegations of age-related fraud, in a move that has sent shockwaves through Bengal's cricketing circles. The list includes current India U19 international… pic.twitter.com/ssb3qIQapg
— Vipin Tiwari (@Vipintiwari952) September 4, 2026
Under-19 World Cup champion Ravi Kumar also fell under attack
The biggest and surprising name in this banned list is that of left-arm fast bowler Ravi Kumar, who was the main player of the Indian team that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2022 under the captaincy of Yash Dhull and who performed well in that tournament. Investigation of the official records of the Cricket Association of Bengal has revealed that a huge gap of 45 months (about four and a quarter years) has been found in the documents of Ravi Kumar. The fact that such a prominent player, who made India world champion, has been caught faking his age like this clearly shows how deeply rooted this problem is at the lower levels of Indian cricket. Apart from Ravi Kumar, all-rounder Vishal Bhati, who has played first-class matches for Bengal, has also been disqualified due to irregularities in the documents.
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What punishment have the players received?
Cricket Association of Bengal and BCCI together have taken very strict action against these guilty players. All 62 to 64 cricketers involved in this fraud have been completely banned for the next two domestic seasons of 2026-27 and 2027-28. During this ban, he will neither be able to register in any new team nor will he be able to take transfer. Apart from this, these players will not be able to participate in any BCCI junior tournament (like Cooch Behar Trophy or Vinoo Mankad Trophy) and senior level domestic matches during this period of 2 years.
BCCI's 'Anti-Age Fraud' mission and new strict rules
In order to eliminate the problem of players hiding their age to get more opportunities and unfair advantage at the junior level in Indian cricket, BCCI has made the rules very stringent. The board has now deployed a professional third-party verification agency, which instead of relying on documents alone, goes directly to the schools and physically verifies the admission records and birth certificates of the players. Along with this, biometric data (fingerprint and iris scan) of all players is being made mandatory to prevent fraud in re-registration by changing identity in future. At the same time, after the recent case of IPL player Vaibhav Suryavanshi, TW3 Bone-Age Test, which detects age by examining bones, has also been made more strict than before for junior cricketers.
Why was this step necessary for the future of Indian cricket?
Even though the ban on more than 60 players simultaneously has dealt a big blow to Bengal cricket and the careers of those players, it was very important to take this strict step to maintain the integrity of Indian cricket. Whenever a player hides his age and plays at the junior level, he snatches the opportunity of an honest and genuinely deserving child. This strict action of BCCI has given a clear message to the young cricketers and academies across the country that cheating or adopting shortcuts in the game can only result in ruining one's career.
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