Teams clueless about U-19 players

It came as a surprise to many that when IPL commissioner Lalit Modi announced the names of the three under-19 players eligible to join the teams, Royal Challengers Bangalore asked him to provide information on what these players do.

Ashok Meenaria may be leading the India under-19 team in the ongoing World Cup in New Zealand but when his name was announced as a possible candidate to be drafted in one of the Indian Premier League teams, most franchisee members seemed unaware about his abilities.

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It came as a surprise to many that when IPL commissioner Lalit Modi announced the names of the three under-19 players eligible to join the teams, Royal Challengers Bangalore asked him to provide information on what these players do.

Even Kings XI Punjab wanted to know more about the

players when their turn to choose the player of their choice came.

Modi defended the teams, saying they were informed about the three under-19 players only on Tuesday morning, but when HT approached a few franchisee officials they

confirmed that the communication was received about a week ago.

“We knew about these players. But we were not interested in them since we have completed our quota of under-22 players,” said an official on condition of anonymity.