Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad Lakanwal grabbed eyeballs at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction last month, as he was the youngest cricketer (14 years, 344 days old) to be part of the IPL Auction 2020, though, he couldn’t find a bidder at the auction.
While Lakanwal’s age was a talking point during the IPL Auction 2020 and Cricinfo says the Afghanistan spinner was born on 3 January 2005, but Dean Jones, the former Australian batsman, and commentator were not convinced with his stated age.
After Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq has expressed his concerns over the recent age-fudging incident in Asia, Jones pointed finger at the age of Noor who recently turned 15, as the Aussie feels the youngster was hiding his real age.
Read Also: U19 World Cup star Manjot Kalra suspended from Ranji Trophy for a year for age fraud
The age-fudging matter has once again come into the light after India’s Manjot Kalra was found guilty of hiding his real age and later, he was banned from playing age-level cricket for two years and Ranji Trophy for one year by the Indian cricket board (BCCI).
Recently, a 16-year-old Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah was also in the news for allegedly hiding his real age, though he came out clean from the controversy. It is being said that Indian’s Nitish Rana and Shivam Mavi are also under the scanner for the same reasons as questions were raised at their age.
Saj wrote on Twitter: “Age-fudging remains a problem in Asia: The latest is Manjot Kalra, who struck a match-winning century in the U-19 World Cup final in 2018 & has been handed a two-year ban from playing for Delhi for age fraud. Reports state 5 other players are also under investigation.”
To which, Jones replied that the age-fudging needs to stop while pointing fingers at Noor’s age. He wrote: “This has got to stop! We had a left-arm leg spinner, Noor Ahmad, from Afghanistan who said in his application for IPL auction that he was 14yo!!! Like come on guys .. 18 yes.. but 14 ??!!”
Noteworthy, the Chinaman bowler is a regular member of the Afghanistan U-19 team ever since he impressed in the U19 Asia Cup last year by taking eight wickets and even he has now given the chance to shine in the upcoming U19 World Cup in South Africa after he emerged as the Emerging Cricketer in the Sphageeza League — Afghanistan’s franchise-based T20 tournament.
