India U-19 coach Rahul Dravid strongly believes that the recent decision by the BCCI working committee to put a cap on players getting only one shot at Colts World Cup will prevent age fudging by players.
Ravindra Jadeja (‘06 & ‘08), Vijay Zol (‘12 and ‘14), Sandeep Sharma (‘10 and ‘12), Sarfaraz Khan (‘14 and ‘16), Ricky Bhui (‘14 and ‘16) and Avesh Khan (‘14 and ‘16) are some players in recent times who have played in two U-19 global meets.
“Being allowed to play only one U-19 WC will mean people are less motivated to alter the age. Honestly, U-19 cricket should be more about exposure and less about results. The focus should be on giving more youngsters an opportunity to play rather than on winning. And that’s what this new rule will result in. The long term results of this step will far outweigh the potential loss of results in the short term,” Dravid said.
The 43-year-old former India captain is glad that BCCI has made it a rule and felt it will have a positive impact.
“Really glad that BCCI is taking some steps to try to address over-age issue. The age fudging issue is a major problem and I see it having an adverse impact on the development of cricketers and the continued participation of more deserving people in the game.”