Manjot Kalra, who is an Indian cricketer and had represented India in the U-19 World Cup final of 2018, has been banned for two years from the Delhi team for age fraud.
The penalty would hurt Delhi Ranji, which is desperate to shore up their batting. The outgoing ombudsman of the DDCA, Justice (retd.) Badar Durrez Ahmed, whose tenure ended on December 16, issued the order on a complaint from ex-India cricketer Kirti Azad and another member, Sameer Bahadur.
Kalra May Continue From Second Year
The order states, “In the case of Mr. Manjot Kalra, he shall submit an undertaking that he shall not be playing in age category matches for 2 years from the date of this order. However, he shall be permitted to play in open category matches as well as club matches/tournaments from the second year.”
Last year, Kalra was unable to break into the Ranji team. Bantoo Singh, the chief selector of Delhi said, “We were thinking of including him, but now there is an order, we’ll have to abide by it.”
Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma, who helped Delhi win its previous game against Hyderabad, will also be missing from the team.
Nonetheless, along with Harsh Tyagi, U-19 pacer Shivam Mavi, Prashant Bhandari, and Sarang Rawat, batsman Nitish Rana, who is also facing an age-fraud investigation, will be retained by Delhi.
While Sudeep Tyagi and Shivam Mavi have moved out of Delhi, Bhandari is no longer playing. Rawat has been banned from state matches for two years following an apology from him and his father.
The apex council was asked to investigate the date of birth in the registry of admission, based on the date of birth, whether the birth date was changed or not. They had been requested by the ombudsman to return and file a report.
Because Justice Ahmed was replaced at the acrimonious AGM on Sunday, the issue will be put before the new ombudsman, Justice Deepak Verma.
