Leg-spinner Rohit Yadav, who represented Bengal and India U-19 teams, has been handed a two-year ban by the BCCI for “age fraud”.
Rohit had most recently represented India U-19 on their tour of Sri Lanka in both one-dayers and a multi-day game in July.
He was also picked for India U-19’s home one-dayers and multi-day games against the visiting Australia U-19 in Rajkot and Ahmedabad, beginning later this month.
As per records, Rohit is 18 years old. But Cricket Association of Bengal has recently found out that he has three birth certificates, the revelation coming as the association conducted an Aadhaar card-update of all its players, including those who play only club cricket.
“Rohit has three birth certificates. His birth years in them are 2007, 2009 and 2010. So, he was ineligible to play,” a CAB insider said on Thursday.
The CAB website, on Rohit, states: “Not eligible for transfer/registration for any tournament for the seasons 2026-27 & 2027-2028.”
This comes as a blot on Bengal cricket as a whole as not just Rohit, but left-arm quick Ravi Kumar – a member of the Indian team that won the 2022 U-19 World Cup – and left-arm spinner all-rounder Vishal Bhati – with three first-class and two List A appearances so far – are also ineligible to play due to discrepancies in their age records.