Why age fraud in cricket is as pervasive as the game in India

In India, where age is often a sensitive topic, tackling age fraud in cricket remains a major challenge

By Sanjay Dubey

Age fraud, the deliberate misrepresentation of an athlete’s age to gain an unfair advantage, has plagued Indian sports, particularly cricket, for decades. The issue resurfaces repeatedly, casting a shadow over the integrity of the game and the future of young athletes.

In November 2024, six Hyderabad players, including the designated captain of the U19 state team, were banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for age fudging. The players had been selected to represent the state in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy. The incident came to light following complaints from parents.

Women’s cricket has also faced similar challenges. In December 2022, just weeks before the inaugural Women’s Under-15 One-Day Tournament, a shocking discovery was made: 14 out of 25 probable players from Karnataka failed the age verification test, sending cricket administrators into a tizzy. Such incidents highlight how deeply entrenched this problem is across genders and age groups.

Age fraud often involves falsifying official documents like birth certificates, school records, or affidavits to make players appear younger than they are. In an article published in the International Journal of Law Management & Humanities, Puja Gautam highlights the advantages of manipulating age. These include extending eligibility for age-restricted competitions, gaining an edge over younger opponents, securing scholarships, government jobs, reserved educational seats, and even setting new national records.

This practice is not unique to cricket or India. Sports such as football, badminton, and athletics are also significantly impacted by age falsification. In many sports, age manipulation has become so normalized that individuals engage in it brazenly, without hesitation.

For instance, in badminton, India’s second-most popular sport, a 2019 petition filed in the Karnataka High Court revealed that several Indian shuttlers, including top players, lacked hospital records to verify their birth certificates. Many claimed to have been born at home, and some offered implausible explanations, such as a player’s father stating that his child was born in an auto-rickshaw en route to the hospital.

A parent of a junior badminton player highlighted the extent of the problem in an Outlook report, describing age-category tournaments as "so adulterated by age fraud that they are like milk with 80 percent water." A striking example from athletics is the 2019 National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet (NIDJAM) in Tirupati, where 51 athletes were found overage, and 169 others skipped the verification process altogether.

Over the last decade and a half, several initiatives have been introduced to address this issue. The National Code Against Age Fraud in Sports (NCAAFS), introduced in 2010, mandates age verification through various tests and requires athletes to accept the code as a prerequisite for participation. However, its impact has been limited due to the absence of penalties for falsifying age documents. Another contributing factor is the lack of annual records maintained by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, making it difficult to track habitual offenders across different levels of competition..

To address this gap, the government introduced the National Sports Ethics Commission Bill, 2016, proposing criminal penalties for age fraud and related offenses. However, the bill remains pending in Parliament with no clear timeline for discussion.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also established a Sports Integrity Unit in 2014 to address corruption in sports. While it can recommend actions against offenders, it lacks the authority to file charges or take direct action.

The BCCI has also taken steps to address age fraud, introducing measures like the Tanner Whitehouse 3 (TW3) method in 2012 to determine an athlete’s age. This method is considered more accurate than the previously used Greulich and Pyle (GP) method, with an accuracy rate of +/- 6 months compared to GP’s +/- 2 years.

However, significant challenges remain. The TW3 method cannot be applied to players older than 16 years, making it ineffective for verifying those who enter the system at the Under-19 or Under-23 levels. Additionally, the test can disadvantage athletes whose naturally high bone density may incorrectly suggest they are older than their actual age.

P.S.M. Chandran, former director of sports sciences at the Sports Authority of India, elaborates on this issue in an article published in The Wire. He highlights the problems arising from sports bodies’ over-reliance on bone age tests rather than verifying documents. According to him, instead of treating fraudulent birth certificates as criminal offenses and involving law enforcement, sports organizations indiscriminately reject both genuine and fake documents. They rely on bone age determination tests, which, despite being costly, time-consuming, and scientifically inconclusive, create financial opportunities for officials and radiologists involved in the process.

Rahul Dravid, former head coach and captain of the Indian cricket team, has been one of the most vocal advocates against age fraud. In one of his lectures, he described the ‘scourge of overage players in junior cricket’ as being no different from ‘fixing and corruption.’ Dravid argues that prioritizing short-term results not only undermines fairness but also sets a dangerous precedent, teaching young players that dishonesty is acceptable in the pursuit of success.

As Dravid explained, the impact of age fraud is both far-reaching and deeply damaging. It undermines the integrity of the game, deprives deserving players of opportunities, and fosters an unhealthy environment where winning at all costs becomes the norm. For those who commit the fraud, exposure can result in bans, public humiliation, and career setbacks. Meanwhile, honest players often face marginalization, disillusionment, and, in some cases, an early exit from the sport.

It is also important to recognize that the responsibility for age fraud may not always lie with the players themselves. In many cases, the fraud occurs when they are in their early teens or even younger, leaving them unaware of what is happening or the potential consequences. Parents, coaches, and officials often play more significant roles in perpetuating this issue. At times, even parents are unaware of the legal ramifications of their actions. In some instances, age falsification is done for reasons unrelated to advancing a sports career.

Specifically for girls, it has been a common practice in small towns, cities, and villages to reduce their recorded age by a few years. "The intention isn’t to provide a sporting advantage but rather to give parents more time to make suitable marriage arrangements for their daughters," says Dharmendra Singh, a cricket enthusiast from Agra.

Some might argue that the lack of strictness by authorities is one of the biggest contributors to the widespread issue of age manipulation in sports. They point to instances like the 2019 relaxation of age fraud rules by the BCCI, which allowed banned players to participate in inter-club matches or tournaments during the second year of their two-year ban. Similarly, in 2020, the BCCI introduced a Voluntary Disclosure Scheme, enabling players who admitted to falsifying their birth records to avoid suspension and continue competing in the appropriate age group, provided they disclosed their true date of birth. Additionally, the over-reliance on bone tests for age verification can also be seen as a lenient approach to the issue. While bone tests may help determine a young sportsperson’s age, they fail to effectively discourage age fraud, as no one faces criminal prosecution for age frauds.

Aahna Mehrotra, author of Law and Sports in India, advocates for criminal punishment for those involved in age fraud in sports. However, in her article published in LawInSport, she stresses that such laws should account for factors like the athlete’s age at the time of the fraud—imposing lighter penalties if the athlete was a minor—and the degree of discrepancy between their real age and the falsified records.

The gist is that the balanced rules and laws with a sympathetic attitude towards deserving individuals and harsher penalties, such as lifetime bans for repeat and adult offenders, may act as a stronger deterrent.

Addressing age fraud requires a collective effort from all stakeholders, including sports organizations, governments, players, and their parents and coaches. In cricket parlance, it calls for a 360-degree approach, much like how modern players such as Suryakumar Yadav play their game. The use of advanced technologies for tamper-proof record-keeping and document verification could significantly assist authorities in tackling this issue. Transparency in the age verification process and public reporting of fraud cases would help build trust among stakeholders and encourage those who reluctantly engage in age fraud to refrain from doing so. Awareness campaigns targeting players, parents, and coaches can further foster a culture of honesty and fair play.

Rahul Dravid said in his lecture that ‘the player who has faked his age might make it at the junior level not necessarily because he is better or more talented, but because he is stronger and bigger. We all know how much of a difference a couple of years can make at that age. That incident will have another ripple effect: an honest player deprived of his place by an overage player, is disillusioned. We run the risk of losing him forever.’

But age fraud causes even more harm than simply depriving an honest player of their rightful place. As renowned cricket coach M.P. Singh explains, ‘Many individuals who engage in age manipulation may excel at the junior level, but they often struggle to meet the demands of cricket once they transition to the senior level. This practice not only undermines individual potential but also harms the nation and the sport by depriving the sport of the best talent.’