Shillong, Sep 29: An U-19 cricketer registered with the Meghalaya Cricket Association has been banned by the BCCI for two years after it was discovered that he had submitted two separate birth certificates with two different dates of birth and places of birth when he tried to switch over from Delhi to Meghalaya.
This was first brought to light in a DNA story yesterday where they reported that Jaskirat Singh Sachdeva had previously registered himself with the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association in 2016-17 and had provided a Delhi Municipal Corporation birth certificate listing his date of birth as 15th November 2000.
However, Sachdeva wanted to register for Meghalaya this season and to them he provided a Shillong Municipal Board birth certificate that listed his date of birth as 15th November 1999.
Speaking to TSR today, a senior Meghalaya Cricket Association official said that there is no way that the MCA could have known that Sachdeva had previously registered with another association. According to procedure the MCA sent scanned copies of the players’ birth certificates to the BCCI and it was then that the alleged fraud was noticed.
The MCA official said that Sachdeva has family ties in Shillong and with him producing a Shillong birth certificate and his good performance in the trials for the U-19 team he was included in the Meghalaya squad.
It is not currently known which birth certificate is fraudulent, but if it is the Shillong one then the MCA official said that legal action could be taken against Sachdeva.
“From the above, it is observed that, this player has been using two birth certificates, with different dates of birth, which is a serious matter and the BCCI has dealt with such cases sternly. In view of this discrepancy in these two birth certificates, we have to advise you that this player is not allowed to participate in any of the BCCI tournaments for a period of two years, with effect this season 2018-19,” DNA quoted the BCCI telling the MCA in a letter.
This past week a player from Puducherry was also found to have tampered with his birth certificate, DNA said, and he was subsequently banned by the BCCI as well. The DNA story went on to say that several cricketers who may not have been able to find success in bigger state teams have been eyeing opportunities in the smaller states that are playing in major BCCI tournaments for the first time.
The Meghalaya team recently departed for Bhubaneshwar to take part in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy U-19 One Day Limited Overs Zonal League. They are scheduled to play Mizoram in their first match on 6th October.
Sachdeva is on his way back to Shillong and a replacement player has been sent to Bhubaneshwar, the MCA official added.
(TSR representative photo)
