Pakistan under-19 cricket teamImage Credit source: Asian Cricket Council
Mischief keeps happening in Pakistan cricket. Sometimes there is a fight between the players, sometimes there is a fight between the board and the players, and sometimes there is chaos like match fixing. Tamasha and Pakistan cricket have a long association. One of such irregularities is ‘Age Fraud’, which is widespread in Pakistan cricket. There are often allegations and counter-allegations regarding this in Pakistan cricket. But now a former veteran cricketer of Pakistan has made a big claim that the players of Under-19 team call themselves 17-18 years old but the age is much older.
Recently Pakistan Under-19 Asia Cup 2025 Had won the title. Since then, the Pakistani team is being praised a lot in their country. But amidst this atmosphere of celebration, former fast bowler Mohammad Asif has exposed the reality of Under-19 cricket in Pakistan. Asif has mentioned the bitter truth of age fraud in Pakistan cricket and has even called the country’s former captain Shahid Afridi guilty of it.
Asif accused of age fraud
Talking about the Pakistani Under-19 team, Asif said in an interview, “On paper, Pakistani players are often only 17-18 years old but in reality they are 27-28 years old. Shahid Afridi is the biggest example of this.” Former Pakistani all-rounder Afridi has always been the target of critics due to his age and is always made fun of by saying that he is too young. The truth is also that Afridi, who made his debut in 1996, is still only 48 years old.
This problem is also there in India-Afghanistan
By the way, the problem of taking admission in cricket on the pretext of young age is not only in Pakistan but is spread in many countries of South Asia. Many cases of this have come to light in India too, in which complaints of age fraud have been made. In Afghanistan too, many players have been seen playing at Under-19 level by blatantly falsifying their age. Similarly, similar complaints have also been received in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.