In an embarrassing development, current India U-19 player Manjot Kalra has been instructed to undergo another round of age verification test by the DDCA despite being cleared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The DDCA's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) led by former cricketer Madan Lal were also left embarrassed as Delhi's U-19 team for Cooch Behar Trophy, which was selected on Thursday with Kalra as the captain, was first uploaded on the association's website and then pulled down after multiple complaints of age-fudging.
DDCA administrator Justice Vikramajeet Sen has ordered that all eligible U-19 cricketers would again undergo medical test for age-verification.
Left-handed batsman Kalra, who recently scored a hundred against England U-19 in a youth Test in England, is considered to be a certainty for next year's junior World Cup in New Zealand.
Along with Shubhman Gill and Prithvi Shaw, Kalra is considered to be among the best from the current U-19 crop of players training under Rahul Dravid.
In a three-page letter, Justice Sen has admitted that even BCCI has cleared Kalra's recorded date of birth of January 15, 1999. The cricketer has also provided his CBSE class X certificate, copy of passport, pan card which corroborates the same.
In his notification, Sen has also clearly stated: "BCCI has informed the undersigned that they have accepted the age of Manjot Kalra as 15-1-1999 after verification done by them." However, it was learnt that a few disgruntled parents have provided separate documents which state Kalra's date of birth as 15-1-1998 with another set of documents from his school LancersConventSchool, Rohini.
In 2015, Delhi Police had registered an FIR on complaint from former Delhi captain Kirti Azad.
Sen in his parting note wrote: "It can't be presumed at this stage that the documents submitted by Mr Kalra are incorrect.
"It is indeed a matter of regret that FIR No 312/2015 regarding age verification complaint is still pending. It does not advance the cause of sport in general and cricket in particular. Since FIR has been pending for sometime, DDCA has been left with no alternative but to conduct their own investigation. It is deemed appropriate, that Mr Manjot Kalra will be asked to undergo a medical test."
IMAGE: Manjot Kalra
Photograph: Facebook
