BCCI revises bone testing norms for age determination of junior cricketers

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has introduced an additional bone test at the junior level to ensure that no cricketer misses out on an extra season due to the existing ‘+1 factor’ applied during age verification, which has often rendered players ineligible by the narrowest of margins.

According to current norms, a player's age is determined using the TW3 method and a ‘+1 factor’ is added to assess eligibility for the upcoming season in the same age group.

But, with the revised rule, boys in the Under-16 category will now have the opportunity to undergo a second bone test in the following season. This will allow them to re-establish their eligibility for the same age group if they were ruled out the previous year due to the +1 factor.

"It is being done to have an exact age and make sure that no player loses due to arithmetical calculation rather than scientific calculation," a BCCI source said as quoted by The Economic Times.

"This means that the bone age of a player has to be 16.4 or below in the following season in male cricketers and 14.9 or below in case of females for participation," the source added.

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For instance, if a male U-16 player undergoes a bone test in the 2025–26 season and the result shows a bone age of 15.4 years, he would not be required to take another bone test the following season. Instead, a +1 factor is automatically added to his bone age for eligibility purposes.

However, if a player's bone age is determined to be 15.5 years or higher, the addition of the +1 factor would raise it to 16.5 years or more which will render him ineligible for the U-16 tournament, as the final cutoff is 16.4 years.

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"It's possible that this arithmetical calculation does not accurately reflect a player's actual age, which could cause them to lose out on a year of eligibility," the source said.

In the case of U-15 girls, if a player records a bone age of 13.9 years this season, she will remain eligible to play in the same category next season, with her bone age adjusted to 14.9 after applying the +1 factor. However, if she tests at 14.0 years or above this season, she will be eligible to play only in the current season. The +1 factor would raise her bone age to 15.0 or more next season, making her ineligible, as the cutoff is 14.9 years.