Potential age fraud in Indian cricket

[Nikhil_cric]

We have bashed Pakistani cricketers for their age fraud and rightly so. 

 

But we'd be fools to think our cricket is flawless. 

 

I, too, believed that it had declined in our cricket but it's pretty blatant for a couple of cricketers and we need to keep track of this. 

 

Exhibit A - Tilak Varma 

 

Tilak Varma himself claims that he was 12 years old when he started playing cricket and his coach mentions that he started training during the summer of 2011.

 

Which means Tilak is at least 26 years old now. Officially, he is only 23.

 

 

Exhibit B

 

Shubman Gill 

 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/how-shubman-gill-went-from-boy-wonder-to-an-architect-of-one-of-indias-greatest-wins-1272991

 

His coach talks about how he took on 18 year old bowlers when his father claimed he was 12 years old. 

 

Problem was, this was in the 2009/10 season.

 

This would make Shubman 28 years old today rather than the 26 he claims on paper. 

 

There's also that controversy about him being, officially, 3 months older , on paper, than his twin sister.  

 

 

Vaibhav Suryavanshi's fudging is obvious .

 

 

Let's keep this thread to track potential age fudging of players and provide evidence if possible 

 

 

 

 

[Suhaan]

38 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

 

 

Vaibhav Suryavanshi's fudging is obvious

How do you claim that?

[spiritb2]

6 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

How do you claim that?

 

Trust me bro 

[sage]

People say this is not an issue but it affects planning and future proofing as they hit their 30s.

[Nikhil_cric]

15 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

How do you claim that?

He himself said on record that he was going to turn 14 in September, 2023. 

 

That would make him 16 today, not 14 

[rollingstoned]

55 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

We have bashed Pakistani cricketers for their age fraud and rightly so. 

 

But we'd be fools to think our cricket is flawless. 

 

I, too, believed that it had declined in our cricket but it's pretty blatant for a couple of cricketers and we need to keep track of this. 

 

Exhibit A - Tilak Varma 

 

Tilak Varma himself claims that he was 12 years old when he started playing cricket and his coach mentions that he started training during the summer of 2011.

 

Which means Tilak is at least 26 years old now. Officially, he is only 23.

 

 

Exhibit B

 

Shubman Gill 

 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/how-shubman-gill-went-from-boy-wonder-to-an-architect-of-one-of-indias-greatest-wins-1272991

 

His coach talks about how he took on 18 year old bowlers when his father claimed he was 12 years old. 

 

Problem was, this was in the 2009/10 season.

 

This would make Shubman 28 years old today rather than the 26 he claims on paper. 

 

There's also that controversy about him being, officially, 3 months older , on paper, than his twin sister.  

 

 

Vaibhav Suryavanshi's fudging is obvious .

 

 

Let's keep this thread to track potential age fudging of players and provide evidence if possible 

 

 

 

 

Both Sarfaraz and Musheer are age cheats. I know this from someone who played with them in the Mumbai teams. 

We have tried to stamp it out under Dravid esp But completely eliminating it is quite challenging. 

Edited December 26, 2025 by rollingstoned

[Nikhil_cric]

1 minute ago, rollingstoned said:

Both Sarfaraz and Musheer are age cheats. I know this from someone who played with them in the Mumbai teams. 

We have tried to stamp it out under Dravid esp But completely eliminating it is quite challenging. 

Yeah I've heard of Sarfaraz but I've not come across any video/documentation that looks suspicious 

[Suhaan]

2 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

He himself said on record that he was going to turn 14 in September, 2023. 

 

That would make him 16 today, not 14 

This was posted by @rkt.india,it is from 2020

 

Doesn't he look like proper 8-9 year old here?

[Nikhil_cric]

19 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

This was posted by @rkt.india,it is from 2020

 

Doesn't he look like proper 8-9 year old here?

 

 

Here is Vaibhav himself saying he will be 14 in September of that year. 

 

So, he is at least 16 now

[Suhaan]

8 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

 

 

Here is Vaibhav himself saying he will be 14 in September of that year. 

 

So, he is at least 16 now

I have seen that,people make miscalculations,maybe he faltered saying

[Lone Wolf]

Indian players reflexes start to slow considerably once they hit early 30-32's... Age fraud catches up.

 

In case of Pooks it is visible by 29-30.

Bhuvi Azam is prime example 

[Suhaan]

3 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Indian players reflexes start to slow considerably once they hit early 30-32's... Age fraud catches up.

 

In case of Pooks it is visible by 29-30.

Bhuvi Azam is prime example 

P0rky reflexes start slowing in mid 20s

[Nikhil_cric]

29 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

I have seen that,people make miscalculations,maybe he faltered saying

Possible. But he clearly said September and I'm not sure how he could've faltered while saying that. 

 

He then later said it's March.

 

So there's clearly something amiss. The fudging may not be by much. But it's still suspect. 

[rkt.india]

3 hours ago, rollingstoned said:

Both Sarfaraz and Musheer are age cheats. I know this from someone who played with them in the Mumbai teams. 

We have tried to stamp it out under Dravid esp But completely eliminating it is quite challenging. 

Musheer has been in news since he was 8-9 year old so can't be. Here is a 12 year old video of Musheer Khan who was 8 years old then.

 

https://youtu.be/eHysqs2ys7w?si=zyB9SePW_C396L2F

Edited December 26, 2025 by rkt.india

[rkt.india]

1 hour ago, Suhaan said:

This was posted by @rkt.india,it is from 2020

 

Doesn't he look like proper 8-9 year old here?

Here is one more. Date clearly mentioned on the board.

[Nikhil_cric]

https://revsportz.in/massive-crackdown-in-bengal-cricket-u-19-world-cup-star-ravi-kumar-among-65-bengal-cricketers-banned-in-major-age-fraud-sting/

 

Massive age fraud with discrepancies upto 9.5 years. 

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

What Prince yadav did was the bad one. He was off by 5 years and duly punished for it. But with vaibhav's case i say 1 year may be tops. Still well within under-19.  Once you cross the age group and become senior batsmen don't care about age.  But fast bowlers get exposed if they cheat their age. Manojt Kalra was 2 months older. Got penalized badly.

 

BCCI has a process in place to test them. They have passed. I am fine with that. We can't do private investigator job of he said this on that date so he must be 25 year old. Frankly don't care. The consequence is serious if you get found out. Especially those who come from big cities cannot cheat easily given that they do schooling, they get birth certificate

[Vk1]

Lot of folks among my relatives n friends did it..  it was a culture for those born in 80s n 90s

[diga]

2 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

https://revsportz.in/massive-crackdown-in-bengal-cricket-u-19-world-cup-star-ravi-kumar-among-65-bengal-cricketers-banned-in-major-age-fraud-sting/

 

Massive age fraud with discrepancies upto 9.5 years. 

 

 

24 year old won us a u-19 world cup... Shameful 

[nevada]

1 hour ago, Vk1 said:

Lot of folks among my relatives n friends did it..  it was a culture for those born in 80s n 90s

What was the reason for it? To be eligible for govt jobs a few years more?