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"Age fudging by players is blatant cheating, and is no different from fixing": Rahul Dravid

Report in media suggests that following 3 players have been issued show cause notices for fake degrees and providing incorrect personal data to the PIA.

Players and their charges:

1. Faisal Iqbal, for providing the wrong name and incorrect year of birth.
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If proper investigations are conducted we will see lots and lots of cricketers who have faked their age.
 
Simply Indians are jealous of Pakistani Young fast bowlers....
I swear in around 2004 to 2005 I saw many matches in which age of sehwag was shown 26 then 27 then next year again 26
 
Mr Crickekter said:
Simply Indians are jealous of Pakistani Young fast bowlers....
I swear in around 2004 to 2005 I saw many matches in which age of sehwag was shown 26 then 27 then next year again 26
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That's coz some broadcasters display completed age and some display running year.
 
afaik every single major recent Pakistan cricketer apart from misbah, and maybe fakhar have fake ages.

yk and afridi even admitted it, and still pak fans think for some reason they are the exception rather than the rule.

you put yourself at a massive disadvantage by giving your real age when everyone else is faking. unless the pcb crack down on this, theres no hope.

as a general rule add 2 to 3 years to all players ages and youll end up in the right ball park.

i dont even mind iftikhar, its so obvious its not even a lie, lol.
 
ElRaja said:
afaik every single major recent Pakistan cricketer apart from misbah, and maybe fakhar have fake ages.

yk and afridi even admitted it, and still pak fans think for some reason they are the exception rather than the rule.

you put yourself at a massive disadvantage by giving your real age when everyone else is faking. unless the pcb crack down on this, theres no hope.

as a general rule add 2 to 3 years to all players ages and youll end up in the right ball park.

i dont even mind iftikhar, its so obvious its not even a lie, lol.
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How do you know Misbah and Fakhar didnt fake their ages?
 
From my experience, I can say that lot of Indians are much older than they seem by their face.... They are from tropical area ..... So there is little difference between old and young.... In some areas of India it's difficult to differentiate between men and women.... And whole world got surprised when in 2016 Olympic Games india send two male athletes in female category to compete with female athletes..... You can search it on google.
Some in short most current Indian players are 5to 7 years older than their fake age
 
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zacattakk said:
How do you know Misbah and Fakhar didnt fake their ages?
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for misbah his educational background and age check out, he didnt make his first class debut till 24, which would be about right for someone doing an mba after a bachelors degree.

fakhar was in the navy since 2007, and most cadets join the navy around 18, so if he was 18 in 2007 he must be around 31 now, his reported age is 30.
 
ElRaja said:
for misbah his educational background and age check out, he didnt make his first class debut till 24, which would be about right for someone doing an mba after a bachelors degree.

fakhar was in the navy since 2007, and most cadets join the navy around 18, so if he was 18 in 2007 he must be around 31 now, his reported age is 30.
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misbah. God, I love that man. He is a legend. Fittest Pakistani player of all time. Even past his peak at 43!!, he used to run circles around everyone in training.
 
Capture.JPG

Imran Farhat Current age 38 years 252 days

which means (from above tweet) was that he was 12 when he played U19?
 
Shaheen Afridi looks to be his age, 1 or 2 years max fudging if any.

The rule of thumb in Pak is 95% of the people with their date of birth with 1st -3rd day of the month are made up ages.
That kinda makes, Shahid Afridi, Abdur Rehman, Shoaib Malik, Wasim Akram, Iftikhar, Abdul Razzaq are some names from the top of my head.
 
I seem to recall Nasir Jamshed had an official DOB as 1989, but during his trial in UK, his year of birth was 1986. I can't find the article though to back up these claims yet.
 
Exams, passports, qualifications, certificates, age - what doesn't get fudged in Asian countries.

Anything goes.
 
Dravid has gone overboard to make his point. It is certainly nowhere near as bad as fixing.

At the top level, it is only a problem when these fudgers achieve the youngest to XYZ awards.

You see the likes of Rashid Khan and Naseem sweep these awards and it is a farce.

It is a bigger issue in junior cricket where teams with genuine kids are overpowered with adults pretending to be kids.
 
I don’t think people realize that is an extremely common practice in Pakistan in general.

It’s weird and gave me the creeps when I went there. Even people who had no need to do it, simply had it done.
 
ManFan said:
I don’t think people realize that is an extremely common practice in Pakistan in general.

It’s weird and gave me the creeps when I went there. Even people who had no need to do it, simply had it done.
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It has a lot to do with dumb government rules. In the vast majority of departments, you are employed after 30 and you are forced to retire at 60 which is ridiculous.

As a result, people reduce their age by 2-3 years in order to have better career prospects.

Also, in our society, everyone seems to be in a big rush to get formal education as early as possible. The concept of people going of university in their late 20s, 30s and 40s etc. is unheard of.

Anyone who doesn’t have a degree and or a job by 22-23 is considered “late”.
 
Pakistan U16 captains photographed before tournament

Capture.JPG
 
lol, these guys look anywhere from 17 to 21, but pcb doesnt care, so its pointless.
 
Unfortunately there are a few youngsters in PSL6 who look like they are mid 20s but are listed as teenagers or 20 year old.
 
Its a form of corruption.

Imagine what the other team must think grown men presenting themselves as teenagers. Its really off putting when someone can carry a blatant like that and pass it off as normal. It really is an example of dishonesty. If it was me I couldn't live with myself by pretending to be a kid and would do the right thing and get my age corrected.
 
Flat_Track_Bully said:
Its a form of corruption.

Imagine what the other team must think grown men presenting themselves as teenagers. Its really off putting when someone can carry a blatant like that and pass it off as normal. It really is an example of dishonesty. If it was me I couldn't live with myself by pretending to be a kid and would do the right thing and get my age corrected.
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Its been the norm for the best part of 30 years.
 
Just wow!

This is terrible.. haha.. the guy in the middle has thicker facial hair than I did at 19/20.
 
Flat_Track_Bully said:
It really is an example of dishonesty. If it was me I couldn't live with myself by pretending to be a kid and would do the right thing and get my age corrected.
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if your a poor kid trying to make it, u wd be silly not to age fudge when u know everyone else is doing it, and ur killing any chance of having a career if u dont do it.

the onus should be taken off the people for whom lying means the difference between potentially being able to support their families, or resorting to other, perhaps greater evils to do the same.

ive said it before in this thread, the pcb do not care about this, i havnt heard one official speak about this as an issue. it will not be rectified anytime soon and you will continue to have grown men pretending to be teenagers.
 
ElRaja said:
if your a poor kid trying to make it, u wd be silly not to age fudge when u know everyone else is doing it, and ur killing any chance of having a career if u dont do it.

the onus should be taken off the people for whom lying means the difference between potentially being able to support their families, or resorting to other, perhaps greater evils to do the same.

ive said it before in this thread, the pcb do not care about this, i havnt heard one official speak about this as an issue. it will not be rectified anytime soon and you will continue to have grown men pretending to be teenagers.
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The situation that is causing this is pretty bad, I agree. Most other countries, grade cricket is much better organized. Unless I am missing it, I don’t think there is a solid system per se at the grass roots level for grade or age based cricket in Pakistan. Most of these guys come through club cricket, I think. A true under 15 or under 19 kid is either too busy with school or can’t even consider spending money playing club cricket.

I remember the top most level for us when I was in college in Pakistan (under 19) was to get picked for college team and play in inter collegiate tournaments in lahore. I know my school once had a school team from England come and play us when I was 10 or 11 or something but again that was an elite school. Apart from a few in lahore, such as Aitchison, Cathedral, etc I don’t think there is much of that either.. especially now.. what I am talking about was back from late 80s or so.

If we have a proper grade cricket system with proper coaches, I think we would overwhelmingly be at the topmost level internationally.
 
ElRaja said:
if your a poor kid trying to make it, u wd be silly not to age fudge when u know everyone else is doing it, and ur killing any chance of having a career if u dont do it.

the onus should be taken off the people for whom lying means the difference between potentially being able to support their families, or resorting to other, perhaps greater evils to do the same.

ive said it before in this thread, the pcb do not care about this, i havnt heard one official speak about this as an issue. it will not be rectified anytime soon and you will continue to have grown men pretending to be teenagers.
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It goes one step further than that. They endorse the practice. A case in point is Naseem Shah.
 
Arshad Iqbal 20?

Oh come on. The guy looks mid 20s.
 
Commentators discussing Ifthi's age:

Morrison "30 the age these days"

Doull "really?"
 
Wonder what the person who was writing "Age 30" next to that picture of him was thinking

amir2.jpg
 
There was a case of a 16 year old refugee in a school here and they found out he was actually 24 :91:

Tbh its a tricky one, he might actually be 30 and thats just his genes, who knows.
 
ElRaja said:
afaik every single major recent Pakistan cricketer apart from misbah, and maybe fakhar have fake ages.

yk and afridi even admitted it, and still pak fans think for some reason they are the exception rather than the rule.

you put yourself at a massive disadvantage by giving your real age when everyone else is faking. unless the pcb crack down on this, theres no hope.

as a general rule add 2 to 3 years to all players ages and youll end up in the right ball park.

i dont even mind iftikhar, its so obvious its not even a lie, lol.
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As a general on an average its 4+ on top of the age given. But in some cases its extreme there is no way chacha iftikhar is less than 40 but on paper he claims to be 30
 
Did I see Ahmed Daniyal was listed as 20 years old?
 
I personally think Iftikhar is telling the truth.

Some people just look old. It's not as if he has receding and white hair whilst pretending to be 22.

In any case I don't think it matters. It's not as if he is trying out for the U-16 World Cup ?
 
Muhammad Wasim Junior is another joke hahah


He is from tribal area, I’m sure that he is at least 23 year old
 
observer1 said:
I personally think Iftikhar is telling the truth.

Some people just look old. It's not as if he has receding and white hair whilst pretending to be 22.

In any case I don't think it matters. It's not as if he is trying out for the U-16 World Cup ?
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Don't give him ideas
 
Just thinking if age fudging by some players have a detrimental effect on the young talents and overall for the national team? My take is if it is at a significant level, then many junior cricketers at under 16-19 level will be overshadowed by their so called peers who may be actually senior than them. This will not only hurt their confidence but also unjustifiably amplify the capability of players who have fudged their age. Question is how widespread is this such that many young talents do not get enough chance to come back to the front of the queue ahead of those who have impressed because of age advantage and thereby eventually getting demoralized or completely getting lost?
 
observer1 said:
I personally think Iftikhar is telling the truth.

Some people just look old. It's not as if he has receding and white hair whilst pretending to be 22.

In any case I don't think it matters. It's not as if he is trying out for the U-16 World Cup ?
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No. Receding hairline ain’t she related. It’s the amount of DHT in the body causing make pattern balding. And I don’t need to tell you about hair dye.

If you don’t see that lying about your age by over a decade I don’t know what to say.
 
shah_1 said:
Muhammad Wasim Junior is another joke hahah


He is from tribal area, I’m sure that he is at least 23 year old
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That is what I find annoying, these guys are all relatively young anyway, but I am assuming they are carrying these ages over from their junior days.
 
Personally, I don't disagree with the comment to be honest.

Not only is it corrupt but it's also extremely unfair for any kids who are using their proper age. Imagine if you're playing in Under 13's and every kid there is like 16 year old being bigger, faster, and better in every sense of the word. Is the coach going to play you and are you even going to have the necessary performance because all the bowlers and batters are way older than you and excelling at their craft. You are probably left thinking "hey, maybe I am not good enough and don't have a future if I can't even cut at this level". You may have geniunly good kids who are talented who are giving up or being left behind because they are not performing at their age level because most of the other kids are way above their age level.

Meanwhile, the kids faking their age will get chances and look like they have huge potential because they are outperforming their age level. All it ends up doing is incentivizing the parents to fudge their kid's age being getting them into professional cricket since "everybody else is doing it".

Even beyond that, if they do make it to International level, you have players who are listed at their prime age and declining because they are older than they actually are. At the extreme end, you have selfish players like like Younis pining to make it to the World Cup like he did in 2015 even though he was 40 years old and complete done and dusted as a limited overs player.

So clearly, the team itself has an incentive to stop this from happening so you're not misevaluating players and not a simply a situation of a players decline is performing being "out of form" rather than actually being a decline in physical ability. This is wrong and it needs to be stop.
 
Bewal Express said:
I know we joke but these claims look way exaggerated. My instinct tells me he is around the mid 30s mark
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Saeed Ajmal was having a laugh, of course he was.

But there is probably some truth in what he's suggesting.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you very much for all the lovely birthday wishes - 44 today! My family and my fans are my biggest assets. Really enjoying my stint with Multan and hope to produce match winning performances for all MS fans.</p>— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/SAfridiOfficial/status/1366101682808119296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Official age is 41 today - he says 44...
 
Social media lol. you can't keep lying forever, sooner or later it all comes out.
 
Shahid Afridi had revealed in his memoir that he was 19 in his debutHe made his debut in 1996, against Sri Lanka - According to his tweet, he turned 44 on Monday

Former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi took to social media to thank his fans for their birthday wishes, and once again created confusion regarding his age. According to ICC's official website, Afridi was born on March 1, 1980, which makes him 41.

But Afridi in his tweet mentioned that he became 44 years old on Monday. Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "Thank you very much for all the lovely birthday wishes - 44 today! My family and my fans are my biggest assets. Really enjoying my stint with Multan and hope to produce match winning performances for all MS fans."

Afridi in his memoir titled 'Game Changer' revealed that he was 19 years old during his debut and not 16. He also revealed that he was born in 1975. What really adds to the confusion is that if he was born in 1975, his age would have been 21 in his debut.

Afridi made his debut against Sri Lanka in 1996, in Nairobi. He slammed a record-breaking 37-ball century in the ODI match.

An all-rounder, Afridi played in 27 Tests, 398 ODIs and 99 T20Is. He was part of Pakistan's 2009 T20 World Cup-winning team. He was also adjudged as the Player of the Match in the final, with Pakistan defeating Sri Lanka by eight wickets. He slammed an unbeaten knock of 54 runs from 40 balls.

An aggressive batsman and a spinner, Afridi was also famous for his multiple retirements during his playing career for Pakistan.

https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/sha...ter-thanking-fans-for-birthday-wishes-2381107
 
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Saj said:
Saeed Ajmal was having a laugh, of course he was.

But there is probably some truth in what he's suggesting.
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But it seems he is cracking a joke.

Says "Haider Ali MashaAllah is a youngster, but Iftikhar Ahmed used to play alongside my elder brother... he may be new to the Pakistan side but he has been playing First Class since 1974".
1974 is like since 46 Years
Imagine if he has a Fist Class Debut at 10 Years age (real age), He will be 56 Years Old by now. Which is impossible.

He may be not more than 4-5 years older than his declared age, which is bit common in Asia. Thats it.
 
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MenInG said:
Shahid Afridi had revealed in his memoir that he was 19 in his debutHe made his debut in 1996, against Sri Lanka - According to his tweet, he turned 44 on Monday

Former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi took to social media to thank his fans for their birthday wishes, and once again created confusion regarding his age. According to ICC's official website, Afridi was born on March 1, 1980, which makes him 41.

But Afridi in his tweet mentioned that he became 44 years old on Monday. Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "Thank you very much for all the lovely birthday wishes - 44 today! My family and my fans are my biggest assets. Really enjoying my stint with Multan and hope to produce match winning performances for all MS fans."

Afridi in his memoir titled 'Game Changer' revealed that he was 19 years old during his debut and not 16. He also revealed that he was born in 1975. What really adds to the confusion is that if he was born in 1975, his age would have been 21 in his debut.

Afridi made his debut against Sri Lanka in 1996, in Nairobi. He slammed a record-breaking 37-ball century in the ODI match.

An all-rounder, Afridi played in 27 Tests, 398 ODIs and 99 T20Is. He was part of Pakistan's 2009 T20 World Cup-winning team. He was also adjudged as the Player of the Match in the final, with Pakistan defeating Sri Lanka by eight wickets. He slammed an unbeaten knock of 54 runs from 40 balls.

An aggressive batsman and a spinner, Afridi was also famous for his multiple retirements during his playing career for Pakistan.

https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/sha...ter-thanking-fans-for-birthday-wishes-2381107
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Lol
We have his age ESPNcricinfo as 41.
His autobiography says 46.
Now he is saying 44!
:kp
 
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King_Kohli said:
Lol
We have his age ESPNcricinfo as 41.
His autobiography says 46.
Now he is saying 44!
:kp
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I wonder if he knows his real age himself.
 
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Varun said:
I wonder if he knows his real age himself.
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He wrote himself and revealed that he was born in 1975 in his autobiography Game Changer (46 Years).
Now he saying thanks to everyone for his 44th birthday wishes.

yeah, wonder if he knows his real age himself.
 
In the current Indian team, Pujara and Kohli are definitely older than their shown ages, specially Pujara the way he fields and acts lazy now. His reflexes are gone too.

The way Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan etc have greyed while still being in mid late 30s on papers shows the age fudging culture in Indian cricket. I think Shamis wife also revealed that Shami is like 6-7 years older than his registered age.
 
MesonK said:
In the current Indian team, Pujara and Kohli are definitely older than their shown ages, specially Pujara the way he fields and acts lazy now. His reflexes are gone too.

The way Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan etc have greyed while still being in mid late 30s on papers shows the age fudging culture in Indian cricket. I think Shamis wife also revealed that Shami is like 6-7 years older than his registered age.
Click to expand...

Kohli is not ,knew the people in his Delhi cricket academy, no idea about Pujara.

Sangwan (rich dad) fudged his age by an year and was still useless -played U-19 with Kohli 2008.
 
MesonK said:
In the current Indian team, Pujara and Kohli are definitely older than their shown ages, specially Pujara the way he fields and acts lazy now. His reflexes are gone too.

The way Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan etc have greyed while still being in mid late 30s on papers shows the age fudging culture in Indian cricket. I think Shamis wife also revealed that Shami is like 6-7 years older than his registered age.
Click to expand...

koh.jpg

Kohli too spoke about the picture. "That was back in 2003 after he had come back from the World Cup. I was 13 then and struggling for a place in the school team," said Kohli.
 
It's only cheating if they are playing at a youth level and their real age is above the criteria for that age e.g. they are playing at U15 level and they are actually 17 or 18. If they aren't doing that then it is lame and pathetic but not cheating.

Anyway with the digitisation of birth certificates now in Pakistan it will stop happening with the next generation.
 
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