Nepal’s U-19 Cricket Team Captain, Raju Rijal, has got a clean chit from the International Cricket Council on a dispute related to his age.
The global cricket governing body said there was no evidence suggesting that the Nepali skipper was overage, adding that Nepal can play remaining matches of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 under his captaincy.
Nepal had played against India at the world cup underway in Bangladesh. Kaustubh Pawar, a 25-year-old Indian cricketer, had alleged that the Nepali cricketer was overage. Indian channels had given due coverage to this unsubstantiated charge.
Pawar had accused Raju of playing cricket together with him in Mumbai, in the name of Raju Sharma. He claimed that Raju must be 24-25 years old. Documents that Cricket Association of Nepal had submitted earlier do not indicate that Raju is above 19 years of age, the ICC stated.
The governing body said it has verified the facts with CAN, Captain Rijal and Nepal Team Manager Sudip Sharma. It said it also studied Raju’s personal documents, including passport and birth certificate.
The ICC said it has closed the debate, adding it will not take a new decision unless it gets new information.
