Delhi cricketer Prince Ram Niwas Yadav has been found guilty of age fraud and has been banned by the BCCI for the next two years.

The Delhi & District Cricket Association had registered Prince Niwas for a U19 tournament after being produced a birth certificate which stated that the player was born on 12 December 2001. However, after confirming with the Central Board of Secondary Education, it was revealed that the certificate was fake and his original birthdate is 10 June 1996.

Yadav had completed his 10th standard education in 2012 and is still playing in U19 tournaments by forging his age. BCCI has banned him from playing in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Also, even after his ban gets terminated, he will only be allowed to be senior men’s tournaments.

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The email to DDCA sent to BCCI read, “Prince Ram Niwas Yadav (Player ID 12968), a player registered by DDCA in the U-19 age group category in 2018-19 season and re-registered in 2019-20. As per the recently issued birth certificate submitted by the cricketer, his date of birth is 12th December 2001.”

“Acting on a complaint received about the cricketer being over-age, the BCCI checked his records with Central Board of Secondary Education and it was found that Mr. Prince Yadav has passed Class X in 2012 and his actual date of birth is 10th June 1996," the BCCI said in the letter sent to DDCA on 30 November.”

“In view of the above, Mr. Prince Yadav is disqualified with immediate effect and banned from participating in any BCCI tournaments for 2 seasons i.e. 2020-21 and 2021-22 BCCI domestic cricket seasons. Further, after completion of his 2-year ban, he is only allowed to participate in Senior Men's Cricket tournaments,” it stated.

Currently, two more cricketers from DDCA, Manjot Kalra and Himmat Singh, have age fudging cases pending against them.

(Inputs from PTI)