A gaffe from the joint secretary of the BCCI, Amitabh Choudhary, left a total of seven Under-19 players heartbroken when they came to know that they are not eligible to be a part of the team. As per the rules of the Asian Cricket Council, the cut-off date for the players participating in the Asia Cup is 1-9-1998, but the BCCI selected 15 players going by the cut-off date 1-9-1997.
This came into notice a day before the players were about to leave for the camp in Bangalore.
“It was a major goof-up. Luckily, it came to our notice now. Things could have been worse if we would have come to know about this after the team had landed in Sri Lanka. The selectors were informed and they quickly replaced those seven names,” a BCCI official told The Indian Express.
The names of the seven players who are now ineligible to participate in the tournament are Digvijay Rangi, Chandan Sahini, Daryl S Ferrario, Sandeep Tomar, Rishabh Bhagat, Simarjit Singh, and Izan Sayed.
Their replacements are as follows: Himanshu Rana, Salman Khan, Harvik Desai, Yash Thakur, Heramb Parab, Vivekanand Tiwary, Het Patel (wicket-keeper).
Out of these, Himanshu Rana, batsman from Haryana, has played for India U-19 earlier but was not the part of World Cup squad, which has now proved to be a boon for him as earlier, the BCCI made a rule that an U-19 player is allowed to play only one U-19 World Cup during his career or else, players like Ishan Kishan, Mahipal Lomror, Washington Sundar and many others would have been in the squad.
UP’s Sandeep Tomar said:
“It was a matter of great joy but now I am feeling equally sad. My visa was done, and passport submitted. I was to go Bengaluru tomorrow and join the camp. My mother said, ‘Don’t worry, if you are lucky, you will get another chance in the future’. But I missed an India cap by just eight days.”
“I got a call from the BCCI… It has happened, now what can I say? I was so happy but now am heartbroken,” said fast-bowler Rishab Bhagat.
India’s Squad for U-19 Asia Cup: Abhishek Sharma(Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Shubham Gill, Himanshu Rana, Priyam Garg, Salman Khan, Harvik Desai, KL Nagarroti, Ayush Jamwal, RD Chahar, Shiva Singh, Yash Thakur, Heramb Parab, Vivekanand Tiwary,Het Patel (wicket-keeper).