A parallel selection system has taken root in Puducherry cricket, where manufactured addresses, backdated educational admissions and paid “local” status have created a pipeline that bypasses the BCCI’s one-year residency rule. An extensive report by a national daily reveals how this network functions around the Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP).
The investigation examined over 2,000 player registration forms, interviewed former and current players and officials, and verified listed addresses and institutions across the Union Territory.
Private academy coaches play a central role. They arrange forged or dubious documentation — Aadhaar addresses, educational enrolments, or job records to convert outstation players into “locals” for packages of up to Rs 1.2 lakh. This provides immediate access to CAP teams across age-groups.
One example shows 17 players from eight states sharing a single Aadhaar address in Mothilal Nagar, Moolakulam. The homeowner reportedly said she had housed only four players years ago and evicted them for unpaid rent.
The incentives are high. A Ranji cap offers visibility, match fees and sports quota jobs. A junior player can earn up to Rs 11.2 lakh a season. Strong performances in white-ball tournaments open doors to the IPL. Yet only five Pondicherry-born cricketers have played Ranji Trophy for Puducherry in the past five years.
The numbers underline the trend. Only five local players featured in 29 Ranji games over four years.
Nine of eleven players in this season’s opening U19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy match were outstation recruits listed as locals. No local player appeared in the first five matches of the 2025-26 Ranji season. Not more than four local players were part of any senior men’s squad last season.
Five local cricketers were banned for protesting outstation dominance in the PPL 2025. In 2019, the BCCI banned six Puducherry players for listing a fictitious institute.
Players from North Indian states come, pay and play the next day without fulfilling the residency rule, a top official in the know revealed.
It’s reported that private academy coaches bring players from across the country and strike deals on arrival.
However, an influential CAP figure has denied such practices, adding that Pondicherry has limited local talent, so selections are performance-based.
The one-year eligibility rule is reportedly the root of the problem. One official urged the BCCI to adopt a model like Vidarbha’s, which requires three years of education or club cricket history.
BCCI rules allow a player to qualify as local with one year of employment or an educational course from the previous calendar year, plus residential proof for one year.
Meanwhile, five residential addresses and three institutions recur in CAP records. They include a Moolakulam house linked to 17 players; a Tsunami Nagar home used by a Delhi teenager who never lived there; a Nainar Mandapam property listed for four players whose owner denies ever hosting them; a locked White Town apartment used on a bowler’s Aadhaar since 2019; and an MG Road residence shared by six players, including a former IPL player, whose homeowner is connected to Jagath Academy.
Education records form another layer. At least 28 outstation players are enrolled in ITI courses in Puducherry. Sri Vivekananda ITI in Nellithope, listed on several forms, shut in 2021 and now exists only as a name under a paramedical college. Two Haryana players are shown as wireman students there. A UP-born U23 player was registered through a tuition centre he never visited.
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