The Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI is likely to increase the hosting fee of domestic matches for both playing and non-playing days after the state associations sought a revision during the Board’s 88th Annual General Meeting. Besides the BCCI may also reconsider its decision to forcefully retire 17 scorers who have attained the age of 60 after these points were raised by a member during the Board’s AGM in Mumbai December 1.
“The Board now has set aside a token amount of only Rs 1 lakh per day as hosting fee for non-international games only for the match days. We have sought for a revision and also proposed for fees during non-match days to bear the costs of travelling and all other arrangements related to teams’ practice sessions,” the member present during the AGM was quoted as saying in a report.
The retirements were forced upon the 17 scorers at the start of the current domestic season without formally communicating the same to them, reported the news agency PTI. “There was no formal announcement in this regard from the BCCI, leaving them in the lurch as they never anticipated it. We want the Board to reconsider the decision for at least this season, so that they can plan their future,” the member said. He reportedly pointed out that scorers just need good vision to carry out their roles and that no other cricketing nation has a ‘retirement age’ for them.
In another development, the BCCI has banned Delhi cricketer Prince Ram Niwas Yadav from domestic cricket for the next two seasons after being found guilty of fudging his age in under-19 tournaments. Yadav, who is registered with the Delhi & District Cricket Association, has been disqualified by the BCCI with immediate effect and banned from participating in 2020-21 and 2021-22 domestic cricket seasons. “It is confirmed. We have got intimation from BCCI that Prince Yadav has been found guilty of age fudging,” a senior DDCA official reportedly said.
The BCCI acted on the basis of the certificate issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education in which his date of birth was found to be June 10, 1996. But the cricketer submitted a birth certificate to the BCCI in which his his date of birth was shown to be December 12, 2001. In an e-mail sent to the DDCA, the BCCI said, “Prince Ram Niwas Yadav (Player ID 12968), a player registered by DDCA in the U-19 age group category in 2018-19 season and re-registered in 2019-20. As per the recently issued birth certificate submitted by the cricketer, his date of birth is 12th December 2001.
“Acting on a complaint received about the cricketer being over-age, the BCCI checked his records with Central Board of Secondary Education and it was found that Mr. Prince Yadav has passed Class X in 2012 and his actual date of birth is 10th June 1996,” the BCCI said in the letter sent to DDCA on November 30. The BCCI was quoted as saying that Yadav has acquired multiple birth certificates to gain undue advantage in the age group tournaments.
“In view of the above, Mr. Prince Yadav is disqualified with immediate effect and banned from participating in any BCCI tournaments for 2 seasons i.e. 2020-21 and 2021-22 BCCI domestic cricket seasons. Further, after completion of his 2-year ban, he is only allowed to participate in Senior Men’s Cricket tournaments.”
Age fudging is not new in Delhi cricket and some cases are even pending with police as the players have now graduated to senior level. Manjot Kalra and Hemant Singh are two such players now in the senior Delhi team against whom age fudging cases are pending.
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