Manjot Kalra banned for two years from playing age-group cricket; decision pending on Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi for age fudging

Cricketers fudging their age to play Youth cricket despite no longer being eligible to do the same has reared its head on a plethora of occasions in the past. One of the many good things that former Indian captain Rahul Dravid did after taking over the reins of the U19 team was that no cricketer would be eligible to play more than one ICC U19 World Cup.

But, unfortunately, one of the players of the 2018 World Cup-winning U19 team under Rahul Dravid may have just fudged his birth documents to take part in the competition. Manjot Karla, who rose to fame by scoring a whirlwind hundred in the 2018 U19 World Cup Final against Australia has been barred to play age-group cricket for two years by the DDCA ombudsman. 

Kalra has been under the scanner for fudging his age-related documents even before the 2018 U19 World Cup, and although he was cleared to feature in the tournament, the southpaw was not able to prove that the allegations levied against him were wrong.

Manjot Kalra banned for two years; two KKR stars also under the scanner

Kalra, who was at the heart of India’s imperious run-chase against Australia in the U19 World Cup final, courtesy his swashbuckling 102-ball 101- a knock which included eight pristine fours and three sixes- was the flavor of Indian cricket two years ago.

Post his heroics in the World Cup final, the swashbuckling left-hander was racked up by the Delhi Capitals [then Daredevils] in the 2018 Auction. But, with the Capitals boasting of enough opening options, he could not find a place in the playing XI for two consecutive seasons and was released ahead of the 2020 Auctions- where he eventually went unsold.

Meanwhile, two Kolkata Knight Riders’ players- Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi are also under the scanner for age fudging. Rana was one of the 22 players that the BCCI banned from playing age-group cricket for age fudging back in 2015. A decision on Rana is expected.

Shivam Mavi’s case has been referred to the BCCI. Mavi, who was one of the spearheads of India U19 World Cup-winning campaign- has played six FC games and 16 List-A matches where he has picked up a total of 47 wickets.