BCCI bans India U19 fast bowler Rasikh Salam for age-fudging

Rasikh Salam, the 18-year-old right-arm fast bowler from Jammy and Kashmir, has been banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The speedster submitted a faulty birth certificate to the country’s board and it was recently discovered. The Young Turk was set to be a part of the India U19 squad that will play a one-day triangular series in England, scheduled to get underway on July 21, 2019.

He has made the headlines in a number of instances, representing Jammu and Kashmir in the domestic circuit. Some decent performances for the U19 team in English conditions could’ve brought him in the eyes of the selectors. On June 9, the Indian squad for the series was announced and Rasikh would’ve been over the moon on his selection. Soon after it was revealed that there were discrepancies with his birth certificate which is an offence as per the BCCI’s laws and thus the cricketer faces a 2-year ban.

As a result, the All-India Junior Selection Committee has named Prabhat Maurya as Salam’s replacement the BCCI stated in a press release. Priyam Garg, the 18-year-old batsman from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, has been appointed to lead the U19 national team. The young skipper also has a fair bit of experience under his belt, having played 10 first-class matches.

Rasikh Salam’s dream run  

As far as Salam is concerned, after making some noise in J&K cricket, earlier this year, he was called upon for trials by the Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the auction, he was listed at a base price of INR 20 lakhs. The Rohit Sharma-captained Mumbai picked him up at the auction. He played MI’s opening match versus the Delhi Capitals (DC), at the renowned Wankhede Stadium.

However, he couldn’t create much of an impact as he conceded 42 runs in his spell of four overs and also couldn’t make a breakthrough. That was the only match he played in the erstwhile edition of the T20 tournament. Thereafter, he had to warm the benches for the rest of 15 matches even as MI went on to win the trophy for the fourth time, beating the mighty Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final.

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Rasikh will now be ineligible to play any cricket for the next two years and will have to restart his career following the conclusion of the ban period.