Rahul Dravid once compared age fudging to match-fixing and referred to age fraud as ‘toxic and dangerous’ while speaking at the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture in 2016. Call it destiny or luck, some sportspersons refuse to age. At least, that’s what their faces reveal, and often deceive people when it comes to guessing their real ages.
The major incidents which fuelled the speculations of age fraud were during the Under 19 championships over the years. One charge that simply refused to die during and after the Under-19 World Cup’s over years has been the age fraud allegations on overage cricketers masquerading as U-19 boys. In 2011, Maharashtra’s Ankit Bhavane was made captain of the U-19 squad ahead of the quadrangular meet which involved U-19 teams from Australia, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
BCCI, however, was horrified to discover at the 11th hour a discrepancy in Bhavane’s Date of Birth in their database with that of his passport. They dropped him from the team and made Delhi’s Unmukt Chand the skipper instead. In 2013, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) caught 49 players in the under- 14 Ambar Roy Memorial Tournament in what was one of the biggest incidents of age-fudging in recent times. Trying to set a precedent, the CAB banned 13 coaching centres guilty of fielding players with fake certificates.
But within a month, the CAB revoked the ban, and instead simply issued a warning that it would spare none if it happened again. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should take some blame. It has three age-group tournaments — Vijay Merchant Trophy (U-16), Vinoo Mankad Trophy (U-19) and Col CK Nayudu Trophy (U-22). It has an age verification protocol at under-16 and under-19 levels, but the methods are completely contradictory.
Here are some of the International players who allegedly faked their age –
Amit Mishra
During the third ODI between India and New Zealand, Sehwag, VVS Laxman and Aakash Chopra were holding the microphones in the 44th over of the Kiwi batting. Laxman was praising Mishra about how he was maintaining his fitness at the age of 33.
Sehwag then jumped in and said that the official age of Mishra is 33 but he might be 2-3 years older than that. He even went on to make a comment on himself as well that he might have done the same in his younger days to hide his real age.
Here’s how the conversation between the three unfolded:
Laxman: He (Amit Mishra) is working very hard on his fitness and now that he is 33, he will have to work even harder.
Sehwag: Officially 33, on paper he is 33, only Mishra would know his real age.
Laxman: You could also know Viru, he would have played a lot with you, so how old is Mishra unofficially?
Sehwag: Look, assume a difference of minimum 2 years, Mishra must be at least 35 years old (Laxman and Chopra burst into laughter). Anyways, everyone gets their ages reduced for Under-19 cricket.
Chopra: Everyone! No everyone does not do that
Sehwag: You must have done that too.
Chopra: No, I did not do that.
Sehwag: Even I might have done that.
Laxman: Might have? You would know if you did that.
Sehwag: Look VVS, I can’t say that on-air. I am saying that everyone might have reduced that. That’s why Mishra on paper is 33, but of the paper, he could be 35, 36, 37 or even 38.
Munaf Patel
Australian Legend Shane Warne once claimed that Indian fast bowler Munaf Patel fudged his age just to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The revelation came during an ODI encounter between England and Sri Lanka in 2016, where Warne was present inside the Commentary box. According to Warne, Munaf claims to have two ages — real age and ‘IPL’ age. The leggie claimed on-air that once during an IPL game when he asked Munaf how old he was, to which Munaf replied ‘real age or IPL age’?
When Shane Warne asked him to reveal both, Munaf’s reply was 35 and 29 as his real and IPL age respectively. If true, this is a shocking development. It is should be noted here that both Warne and the Munaf Patel played together for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL. Munaf Patel’s issue is not yet proven in open but throws light on age fraud that is omnipresent in cricketing circles.
Mohammed Shami
Mohammed Shami‘s wife Hasin Jahan has accused him of age fraud. In a Facebook post, she posted various certificates of Shami which had different birth dates in different documents. One of his educational certificates says he was born on January 1, 1984, while another mark sheet suggests he was born in 1990. Adding to this, his driving license says 8 May 1982 as his date of birth while his voter’s id issued on 1 January 2001 has his age as 21, which means he was born in 1980.
Shami’s official date of birth according to the cricket fraternity is March 9, 1990, implying his age to be 28 years. Along with the proof, she also claimed that the Indian pacer is a fraud and he has support from BCCI and a famous news channel just because he is a star.
She had posted through her Facebook profile that, “Shami ahmad 420 lekin isko har taraf se support hai , q k star hai ,bechara ban k dikhane wala lafanga hai,samachar plus news channel ka umesh kumar jesa admi aur bcci ka support hai uske pas,piste to ham jese majbur hai ,aam admi kijie 420 sabse phle police arrest karegi ,agar noukri hui to turant nikale jaoge ,lekin star ban jao fir to crime karne ka hak de deti hai duniya.ye hai hamara desh ka wasul,bikao media criminal logo ka support,pese ki takat se apradh jit jayega ?aur papi bach jaega?”. Venting out her anger towards biased treatment towards Shami.
As per BCCI records, his birth year is 1990 but if his class 10 mark-sheet is to be believed Shami is already 34 years old. Also, his driving license claims that the fast bowler is aged 36 which might put him in trouble.
Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi is a former Pakistani cricketer and former captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. As a successful all-rounder, Afridi was respected for his consistent bowling that relies on the change of pace rather than spin but drew greater attention for his aggressive batting style. Afridi was previously the world record holder for the fastest ODI century in 37 deliveries and holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of ODI cricket.
Shahid Afridi considers himself a better bowler than a batsman, and has taken 48 Test wickets and over 350 in ODIs. Afridi is also leading wicket-taker in T20I with 98 wickets from 99 matches. He also holds a record of taking most wickets (98) and most player-of-the-match awards in Twenty20 International cricket.
Afridi announced his retirement from international cricket at the Lord’s cricket stadium on 31 May 2018. In spite of all the success and fame he garnered in cricket, he was constantly scrutinized and criticised for the discrepancies in his age.
In between 1996 to 2000, Afridi’s age never changed from 17 according to statistics of matches happened during that time. For 4 years he only got one year older, according to the stats. But when he hit the 37 balls hundred against Sri Lanka, in 1996 Afridi was shown as a 21 years old man by ICC, which can be verified and viewed in all the match footages available all over the Internet.
The above two cases are clearly contradicting as it is not possible for anyone to be of different ages at some point in time. Shahid Afridi’s age has always been a hot debate topic among cricket enthusiasts all through his playing career.
