Rasikh Salam, the young pace bowler from Jammu and Kashmir who made his Indian Premier League debut for Mumbai Indians this season, has been banned for two years for age discrepancy. Salam was withdrawn from the India U-19 squad for the one-day tri-series to be held in England from July 21. He will now be replaced by Prabhat Maurya.
"Rasikh has been banned by the BCCI for two years following a discrepancy—submission of faulty birth certificate," BCCI said in a release. The 17-year-old played U-19, Ranji Trophy and limited-overs matches for J&K in the recent first-class season and was drafted into the Mumbai Indians squad for a base price of Rs 20 lakh for the IPL.
The young pacer, who generated quite a buzz with his pace, became only the second J&K player to play in the IPL after captain Parvez Rasool.
He played in Mumbai Indians first game of the season
He played in Mumbai Indians' first game of the season against the Delhi Capitals and bowled with the new ball. In his allotted four overs, he gave away 42 runs but had his own moments when he troubled the batsmen with pace and movement. However, this was the only match he played in the season. Mumbai Indians went on to clinch the season and lifted the IPL title for the fourth time.
Speaking to IANS, a former JKCA member had said it was really sad that such a thing was happening in the presence of administrators in the association.
"We have two administrators now and if such an episode happens despite their presence, it is indeed sad. They should be keeping a tab to ensure that players don't fudge their age as it is a sin and also deprives other youngsters of the opportunity to shine," he said.
Salam has been guided by Irfan Pathan and the former Indian seamer was mighty impressed with what he saw in the young man in the nets. Irfan conceded that he saw shades of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in Salam and that he had it in him to make it big in his career.
"More than a hundred boys had come for trials. All of them tall and I saw Rasikh for the first time there. He bowled two or three balls and I asked him to stand in the side – it could be that he had become nervous," Pathan was as quoted by the Indian Express.
