India's U19 World Cup team members in 2022 (Source: AFP Photos)
Along with dominating senior level cricket, India is widely regarded as the most successful U19 World Cup winners, having won the title for a record six times. However, one of the members who played an important role to make it happen, made headlines on Friday, this time for unwanted reasons.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) did not let 62 players register for any cricket matches for 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons, citing all of them had age-fraud concerns. Among them, one who represented India U19 and took 4/34 in the final during 2022 edition, was included as well, as reported by PTI.
Age-Fraud Case Widens As Ravi Kumar Named Among 62 Accused
Ravi Kumar, who had that remarkable bowling spell against England in 2022 edition’s final, and ended the campaign by picking up 10 wickets in six outings at an economy rate of just 3.67, was accused of age-fraud case.
Ravi, as revealed by PTI, had an age descripancy of 45 months as per CAB records. Therefore, he will not be available for any cricket for Bengal for at least the next two seasons. In 2022, he played under the-then India’s U19 World Cup-winning captain Yash Dhull.
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The list also includes Vishal Bhati, who had been playing for Bengal since 2024, and was in action during Bengal T20 2026. Prior to the age fraud controversy, Vishal Bhati represented Bengal in Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy – two of the most significant domestic tournaments in India – across different seasons.
How Did CAB Detect Age Fraud In 62 Players?
The CAB made the sanctions after finding out major documental discrepancy in different records. This included, as reported by RevSportz, had a 115-month age discrepancy, which is 9 years and 7 months.
The name of the player who was flagged for this matter is Arun Kumar Chaurasiya.
So, even though there was no clarity on how exactly the players previously registered themselves under CAB, it can be safely said that the administrator has left no stones unturned to keep the fairness around the subject going forward.
Has BCCI Taken Any Action To Tackle Age Fraud?
In between 2018 and 2020, the BCCI suspended 236 players across India. Of them, as per Cricinfo, 210 were men while 26 were women. The board further proposed an amnesty scheme accompanied by a system of punishments for offenders.
Sourav Ganguly, the-then BCCI president and Rahul Dravid, the director of cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) back then, were particularly vocal about the matter.
Notably, Ganguly is currently working as a CAB president, a position he previously held before returning last year.
“A press statement from the board on Monday said that if the BCCI discovered such a fraud after the deadline of declaration - September 15, 2020 - the players could be banned for two years and barred from any age-group tournaments even after the ban ended. That rule would be both applicable both at the India and the state levels,” the Cricinfo report read from August 2020.
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