Mumbai T20 League: Allrounder Akhtar Shaikh in Trouble for Playing in Banned League

It has been only a handful of days since the inaugural season of Mumbai T20 League went underway.

The tournament started on Monday with ARCS Andheri beating North Mumbai Panthers at the Wankhede Stadium. Among the big players to feature on opening day were India batsman Ajinkya Rahane and Under-19 World Cup winning captain Prithvi Shaw.

However, within the first week of its start, the league has made it to the headlines for the wrong reasons. The controversy has arisen due to the dubious identity of a player plying his trade in the league. As a result, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) is all ready to launch an investigation into the matter.

The MCA came to know about the incident from news outlet mid-day. The player in question is North Mumbai Panthers’ all-rounder Akhtar Shaikh.

As per the report, Shaikh played in the banned Rajwada Cricket League; a T20 event organised in Rajasthan last year by the name of Wasim Khan. Shaikh reportedly plied his trade for the Bikaner Desert Challengers.

Rajwada Cricket League has been banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after its Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) sent out a warning. The news outlet discovered pictures showing Shaikh receiving an award in the banned-league last year.

The outlet accessed photographs from the Rajwada Cricket League’s Facebook page which showed that Shaikh participated in the tournament. There was a press clipping as well as an image of Shaikh receiving an award where he has been named as Wasim Khan.

“When Shaikh was asked if he had played in the Rajasthan league as Wasim Khan, he said, “it is not true,” MCA’s joint secretary Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar said.

North Mumbai Panthers’ team manager Datta Mitbhavkar said the team were not aware of the player’s past.

“We have chosen players from the pool available for the auction. Only those players registered with the MCA were in the auction. We wanted an all-rounder and that is why we picked him. We are not aware about what he has done in his past,” he said.

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