Following the imposition of a two-year ban on leg-spinner Rohit Yadav for age discrepancies, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) on Friday said it is very much committed to following rigorous age verification protocols for its registered players.
Yadav was pulled out of the India Under-19 squad for their upcoming red-ball and white-ball series against Australia, to be played in Rajkot and Ahmedabad later this month, after internal documentation audits flagged irregularities in his age records, prompting a broader investigation by the governing body’s authorities.
“The matter was promptly reported to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) within due time. But he has now been barred from playing after documentation checks from the CAB revealed significant birth-record irregularities. “The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), during its routine verification process, identified certain discrepancies/inconsistencies in the documents of the player Rohit Yadav. “Thereafter, BCCI, in consultation with CAB, undertook further verification of the player’s age and supporting documents. “Following the verification process, the player was replaced by another eligible player in the squad. CAB remains committed to ensuring proper verification and adherence to the prescribed regulations governing age-group cricket,” added the CAB. “Basically, for underage tournaments, the BCCI has made it mandatory to look into other update history, and they want digital birth certificates.
So that is their policy, and according to that, we were also going through these other update checks and digital birth requirements for underage players.” Following due examination, the BCCI took appropriate action and removed the player from the India Under-19 squad for the Australia series,” said the CAB in its statement on Friday. Yadav was in India’s Under-19 men’s squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in July, including picking six wickets in the Youth Test.
It further said that a replacement player for Yadav has been picked, though they didn’t specify his name.
