Puducherry cricket reels as U-19 coach brutally assaulted amid fake-locals scandal

The Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP) has been plunged into deeper turmoil after its Under-19 head coach, S Venkataraman, was brutally assaulted inside the association’s training complex on December 8 — an attack linked to rising tensions over the ongoing controversy of outstation cricketers being passed off as locals.

The coach, a former CAP Secretary, suffered a serious head injury requiring 20 stitches and a shoulder fracture after three local players allegedly assaulted him over their omission from the squad for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Police said the trio is on the run.

Sub-Inspector S Rajesh of the Sedarapet police station confirmed the FIR, adding: “Venkataraman is stable… The said players are absconding, and we are trying to track them.”

The assault comes a day after a report by a national daily exposed how CAP officials allegedly facilitated the use of fake educational certificates and Aadhaar addresses to field outstation players as “locals”, squeezing out opportunities for cricketers actually born in Puducherry. Since 2021, only five Puducherry-born players have made it to the Ranji side.

Responding to the revelations, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia said the allegations were “serious” and would be examined “soon”.

Coach accuses three players, alleges plot to “kill” him

In his police complaint, Venkataraman named Karthikeyan Jayasundaram, A Aravinddaraj and S Santhosh Kumaran — all of whom have represented Puducherry in domestic cricket — accusing them of attacking him with a bat after blaming him for their non-selection.

He further alleged that G Chandran, Secretary of the Bharathidasan Pondicherry Cricketers’ Forum, had “instigated” the attack.
“They hit me saying Chandran told them they would get a chance only if they killed me,” Venkataraman stated.

The Forum denied the charge, claiming instead that the coach had a record of misconduct. “He has often behaved rudely with local cricketers,” its president Senthil Kumaran said.

While CAP declined direct comment on the assault, its CEO Raju Metha rejected the allegations in the eligibility scandal, asserting that all players “strictly complied with BCCI norms” and that no credible evidence of wrongdoing existed.