Patna: Two promising cricketers have humiliated Bihar after their multiple age certificates have come up during the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. The cricketers are Sachin Kumar Singh and Amod Yadav, who are a part of Bihar’s squad and are presently in Chennai.
However Sachin has been pulled out from the squad, Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) president Rakesh Tiwari said, “He was waiting for a confirmation from the Anti-Corruption Unit before taking action on Yadav, who played the last match against Meghalaya on January 15.”
Fascinatingly, Tiwari and the two cricketers belong to the Gopalganj district of Bihar. Tiwari refuses there is a ‘nexus’. Ever since the state returned to mainstream cricket, the management of Bihar cricket has been a disputed issue on an order from Supreme Court in May 2018.
The BCA’s biggest problem has been power struggle and nor yet the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators nor the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI did anything useful to settle the issue.
The faking birth certificate misconduct has put current BCA president Tiwari on an adhesive situation. As per Outlook sources, “Tiwari enjoys the blessing of a top BCCI official because of his links with BJP.”
It is learnt that “Tiwari signed off on the ‘official’ Bihar team for the Mushtaq Ali T20 championship after two teams were named. The second team was announced by elected BCA secretary Sanjay Kumar who is no longer recognised by Tiwari’s group.”
According to the District Magistrate of Gopalganj, Dr Nawal Kishor Choudhary’s office, “Sachin’s registered birth date as per records is 25.12.1994. He had got a voter’s ID card made with the same date when he played in the Cricket Association of Bengal league for Calcutta Port Trust.”
As per BCCI records, Sachin’s date of birth is 25.12.1997. On the basis of this, he was made captain of the Bihar U-23 team last year. A talented left-arm spinner Sachin has a third age certificate where his birthday is mentioned as 25.12.1993.
“We have dropped him from the squad. Our committee will ask all Bihar cricketers to come clean on their age or face a criminal case. Bihar’s image has suffered,” Tiwari said.
On the other hand, the case of fast bowling all-rounder Amod is even more interesting. The Gopalganj district authorities do not have any record of his birth date.
It is learnt that, “Yadav had registered his age as 10.12.2001 with BCCI on an alleged forged certificate from the Gopalganj district. He also has a second certificate with the birth date as 10.12.1997.” Tiwari said that it was for the BCCI to take action on the cricketers. “Let BCCI ban them. I will welcome this action,” he said.
“Why should BCA face any punishment? We are trying our best to run the game. We don’t need any ad-hoc committee. At least I am not aware of any recommendation from the Apex Council,” said Tiwari whose election as BCA president also came under contentious situations.
Clearly, Sachin and Amod have left Tiwari and his team in a huge spot of trouble. With BCCI planning to start Ranji Trophy, it is high time that Bihar’s cricket disarray is settled and cricketers’ rights and welfare given preference.
