Nepal U-19 captain Raju Rijal accused of age discrepancy by Mumbai Ranji player

The ongoing ICC U-19 got mired with controversy when a Mumbai cricketer accused Nepal captain Raju Rijal of being overage. 

According to Mumbai Ranji player Kaustub Pawar, Rijal is at least 24 or 35 years old. Pawar posted on Facebook that Rijal had played for played for Mumbai U-15 side under the name Raju Sharma. “We played together in under 15 for Mumbai and now he is captain of Nepal under 19 team and we others are 24-25 age respectively. In Mumbai Raju Sharma, in Nepal Raju Rijal. #SaveCricket #Shame, #ICCUnder19WorldCupBangladesh2016,” Pawar’s wrote on Facebook.

The Nepal skipper decided to play down the issue.  ”I don’t have any idea about this. I am not in social media. So I can not comment on this," Rijal was quoted as saying by Cricwizz.com.

According to Rijal’s official records, he was born on September 26, 1996 at Dhangadi in Nepal.

Kaustub has played 27 First-Class matches scoring 1449 runs at an average of 38.93. He has four centuries and nine fifties in those many matches.

Incidentally the allegations hit the social media just before Nepal's third match in the tourney against India which they lost by seven wickets, courtesy India's wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant's 24-ball 78. Both the teams however have qualified for quarters.