Srinagar, August 06: Imagine someone reaching the sky overnight and falling back hard on earth the next day! That too because of a mistake, which is quite common in this part of the world.
Yes, we are referring to Rasikh Salam, an unbelievable talent from remote village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. The fast-bowler who made his entry to the top stage like none other had. But it all went down to ashes within a day.
The reason is known to all. Rasikh, despite being eligible to take part in U-19 age-group with his real date-of-birth, fudged his age, costing him the two-year ban. This happened at a time when he had already played world’s best franchise-based league, IPL, and was selected to represent Indian U-19 team for a tri-series in England.
Why did Rasikh fudge his age?
Here, firstly, the question is why did he fudge his age in spite of being already eligible to play in U-19 category? The reasons could be multiple: one, there rarely is a age-group cricketer with a real DOB; it might sound strange but is quite true. There have been a lot of cases of age-fudging across India, even some of them reaching high courts.
Second possible reason is the thought of playing an extra year in the U-19 age-group, which, however, is quite naive since he was already playing for the senior team.
How can cricketers who have fudged age save themselves from the ban?
While why he fudged his age remains a mystery, it surely should act as an eye-opener for rest of the young cricketers.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) just a few days back came up with the amnesty scheme, providing cricketers a chance to reveal their real age voluntarily to save themselves from facing any ban
This really is a good news to a lot of promising J&K cricketers and of course to players from other states as well. They have an opportunity to accept their mistake and get away with it unlike Rasikh, who had no choice but to accept the ban.
Where’s Rasikh now?
Meanwhile, a lot you might be thinking where is now-banned Rasikh Salam? No, don’t think he has given up. He is rather sweating it out to make sure when he is back, he makes most of it.
The right-arm pacer has been staying and practicing at Mumbai for over a year now and is expected to stay there till his ban expires in June 2021.