Odisha cricket body suffers huge age fudging disgrace, 19 players banned

Acting tough on the age concealing attempt by cricketers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, on Friday, suspended seven senior women cricketers and 12 Under-19 players of Odisha for one year. The BCCI has also issued notices to four other Ranji players of the state on similar charges. [caption id=“attachment_3040420” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] Confirming this, Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Asirbad Behera admitted that the BCCI restrained these 19 players from participating in any domestic tournament to be organised by the state association during 2016-17 season. Behera also confirmed that four Ranji players- Alok Sahu, Ashis Mohanty, Rajesh Dhuper and Subham Nayak have also received BCCI notices seeking certain documents pertaining to their age certificates. “We will abide by the BCCI decision”, Behera said. Last week the BCCI had sent back six Odisha players from the ongoing East Zone Vinoo Mankad Tournament at Ranchi for mismatch in their date of birth and subsequently, the state association replaced them with fresh players at last moment. The age concealing controversy had been dogging the OCA for last several years and the State association has suffered huge embarrassments for lining up over-aged players in several national level tournaments.