BCCI to conduct an additional bone test for age determination in junior cricket
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New Delhi (PTI): In a significant move, the BCCI has decided to conduct an additional bone test at the age group level to ensure that no cricketer misses out on playing an extra season in the junior circuit due to arithmetical age.
As per the existing norms, a player undergoes a bone test for age determination via the TW3 method (test used for assessing bone age) and a +1 factor is added to determine his or her eligibility for the next season in the same age group.
However, with the rule change, for example a cricketer in the Under-16 boys category, will go a second bone test the following season to determine his eligibility to appear in the same age bracket.
"It is being done to have an exact age and make sure that no player loses due to arithmetical calculation rather than scientific calculation," a BCCI source told PTI.
The cut-off for U-16 boys is 16.5 years and 15 years for U-15 girls competition. "This means that the bone age of a player has to be 16.4 or below in the following season in male cricketers and 14.9 or below in case of females for participation," the source said.
To explain the rule change further, if a male U-16 player undergoes a bone test in the 2025-26 season and the result shows a bone age of 15.4 years, he would not need to undergo another bone test the following season. Instead, a +1 factor is automatically added to their bone age.
In this instance, the player's bone age for the 2026-27 season would be arithmetically calculated to be 16.4 years, regardless of their actual bone growth, allowing them to participate in the U-16 tournament with a bone age of 16.4.
Similarly, if a player's bone age is determined to be 15.5 years or higher, the bone age automatically increases to 16.5 years or higher, making him ineligible for the U-16 tournament, since 16.4 is the final cutoff.
"It's possible that this arithmetical calculation does not accurately reflect a player's actual age, which could cause them to lose out on a year of eligibility," the source added.
In the case of U-15 girls, if a player tests 13.9 years this season, she will be eligible for the same category the next season with a bone age of 14.9.
However, if she tests at 14 or above this season, she can play this season but not the next one with cut off being 14.9.
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Shashi Tharoor calls for regulation and taxation instead of banning online gaming
New Delhi(PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday criticised the government’s move to ban online money gaming, warning that such a step would only push the industry underground and strengthen criminal networks.
He also said he had not studied the three Constitution amendment bills seeking to provide a framework for the removal of prime ministers, Union ministers, chief ministers and state ministers detained on serious criminal charges in any detail.
“On the face of it, it is difficult to say it has any problem, but obviously if anyone does something wrong they should not be a minister anyway. I don’t know if there is any other motive,” he remarked.
Discussing the bill seeking to prohibit and regulate online gaming introduced in the Lok Sabha, he said, "I had written a very long article on the argument that by banning online gaming we are simply driving it underground, whereas it could be a useful source of revenue for the government if we legalise it, regulate it and tax it."
He added that many countries have studied the issue in detail and concluded that regulation and taxation can generate funds for social causes, while bans merely enrich “criminal mafias”.
In a post on X, Tharoor recalled that he had “gone on record in 2018 urging the government to legalise, regulate and tax online gaming, rather than drive it underground by banning it, which will merely enhance the profits of the mafia”.
“It’s a pity that the government seems to have derived no lessons from the experience of other countries that have considered this issue,” he wrote.
He added that the bill should at least have been referred to a parliamentary committee “to consider all the pros and cons before rushing it into law”.
The proposed bill prohibits online money gaming and its advertisements, prescribing imprisonment or fines, or both, for violators. It differentiates such games from eSports and online social games, while calling for their promotion.
1/2 I went on record in 2018 urging the government to legalise, regulate and tax online gaming, rather than drive it underground by banning it, which will merely enhance the profits of the mafia. https://t.co/KYi2aTxDQQ
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 20, 2025
