Nepal Under-19 captain Raju Rijal eligible to play, confirms ICC

Mirpur: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday confirmed that Nepal captain Raju Rijal is eligible to play in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) officials and a former Ranji Trophy player Kaustubh Pawar had alleged that Raju Rijal is a man called Raju Sharma, who had captained Mumbai U-15 back in 2000 and should be aged around 25-26 years. However ICC is set to allow Rijal to continue playing in the tournament. According to a press release on its website,”The ICC has spoken with the Chief Executive of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), concerned player and the Nepal Team Manager, and has again reviewed the documents which were submitted by the CAN before the start of the competition. These documents include copies of his passport and birth certificate, which were issued by the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, as well as a signed age determination declaration. According to the official documents, Raju Rijal is born on 26 September 1996. Players born on or after 1 September 1996, are eligible to participate in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016.” Raju Rijal responds to age-fraud allegations

As such, the ICC has no evidence to suggest that the passport and birth certificate, issued by the Nepalese government/authorities, are not genuine or that the statement provided by the player is false. Unless any new information comes to light, the ICC considers this matter closed. Is Nepal Under-19 Captain Raju Rijal Actually 25?

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Earlier, the joy of Nepal’s success in the ongoing ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 came under threat when allegations were made by a Ranji Trophy cricketer, Kaustub Pawar, about their captain Raju Rijal indulging in age fraud. In a Facebook post Pawar said he had played with Rijal in the under-15 Mumbai team and the players of that batch were currently aged 24 and 25. Pawar implied that even Rijal belonged to a similar age group and had gotten through by committing age fraud. He accompanied his post with hashtags like ‘shame’ and ‘save cricket’.