BCCI cancels registration of eight players from Puducherry

As a result, Puducherry had to provide seven replacements for the players, whose registrations were cancelled. They had to form a team overnight excluding eight players- Shashank Singh, ST Xavier, Nikhilesh Surendran, Iqlas N, Abdul Safar VS, Yash Jadhav, Sagar Trivedi, Ashith Rajiv.

As Puducherry opened their campaign against Manipur on Wednesday in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, several complaints were made against the side, concerning the number of guest players included in the team. As per the norms laid down by the BCCI, the number has been restricted to three. BCCI had been acting on these complaints. Further, the question arose of eligibility of players. It focused on the eligibility certificates provided by the players, who did not belong to Puducherry.

BCCI General Manager (Cricket Operations), Saba Karim has mentioned in his letter that the proof submitted by the eight players of their education and employment, was not even a month old. He cleared that as per the rules, the players who are dwelling in Puducherry only from the month of August 2018, do not clear to play for the state in the ongoing tournament.