Indian cricket’s global rise rests on a hard, almost unforgiving ecosystem. A vast, hungry talent pool, relentless competition at every rung, the muscle of the IPL, and coaches who push players through an exacting, often brutal, screening process. The system’s strength lies in the belief of fairness — that skill, sweat and selection together create a level playing field.
In Puducherry, that field has been turned upside down.
Addresses are manufactured, eligibility certificates sold for a fee, and a one-man proprietorship has morphed into a full-blown parallel selection system that operates right under the nose of the Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) whose job is it to monitor it, an investigation by The Indian Express has found.
Over the past three months, The Indian Express reviewed over 2,000 registration forms of players in the Union Territory, spoke to over a dozen former and current players and officials, tracked down several listed addresses of residences and institutions on the ground.
It revealed a well-oiled pipeline operated mainly by coaches at private academies who offer backdated admissions in educational institutions and dodgy Aadhaar addresses, or even job records, to help cricketers from other states meet the BCCI’s mandatory one-year residency requirement and become “local” cricketers — all for “packages” upto Rs 1.2 lakh or more. And a fast-track route to CAP teams across age-groups.
Consider this illustrative example: 17 “local” cricketers from eight states, who are part of various CAP squads, share one Aadhaar address at Mothilal Nagar in Moolakulam. The homeowner said she had leased out a portion of the house to four cricketers a “few years ago” who were evicted “within months” for non-payment of dues.
Why is Puducherry an emerging market, so to speak? The stakes are high.
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A Ranji Trophy cap unlocks a world of opportunities through visibility, match fees and sports quota jobs. Even a junior player can earn up to Rs 11.2 lakh a season in match fees alone if he plays in all the seven league stage matches. Besides, good performances in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy boosts chances of a lucrative slot in the IPL.
Only five Pondicherry-born cricketers have played the Ranji Trophy for Puducherry in the last five years. (Express Photo by Lalith Kalidas)
The CAP was set up by P Damodaren, the owner of wires and cables company Siechem Technologies Ltd, who himself faces allegations of conflict of interest and impropriety (read Part II of the Express Investigation).
It’s also a voting member of the BCCI, which prides itself on being a global success story as the richest and most influential cricket body, and owner of IPL, which is among the Top 10 sports leagues in the world. And yet, thriving in its shadow are these “rigged” systems, as former Puducherry fast bowler Santhamoorthy described it.
Investigating official records, The Indian Express found:
* Over the past four years, only five Puducherry-born players have taken the field in the 29 Ranji matches played by the team. In the opening U19 game of the Vinoo Mankad Trophy this season, nine of the 11 players were recruits from other states labelled as “locals”.
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* Last season, there were not more than four Puducherry-born players in any game of the 15-member senior men’s squads. The rest were players from other states who were armed with all the documents required to be labelled as “local” — each senior team can officially accommodate only three “outstation” players.
* In the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy, no local player featured in any of Puducherry’s five matches in the first half of the season.
* Five local cricketers were banned by the CAP for protesting the unfettered inclusion of outstation cricketers in the T20 Pondicherry Premier League (PPL) 2025 season.
* In 2019, the BCCI banned six players from Puducherry for listing a fictitious “Senthil Institute” in their registration records.
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“Cricketers from North Indian states come, pay and play the next day itself without having to physically fulfill the key one-year residency requirement,” Santhamoorthy said.
In 2019, Santhamoorthy set a first-class world record by becoming the oldest bowler ever to take a five-wicket haul on debut and later became the oldest pacer to bag five wickets in a T20 game (against Mumbai) at the age of 41 years and 129 days.
According to Santhamoorthy, a key role in the parallel system is played by coaches of private academies. “I know a coach who brings in players from across the country to the academy where he coaches. Those who can afford to pay simply arrive at the ground and strike a deal,” he said.
These claims are denied by S Venkatraman, an influential figure in local cricketing circles. His CV speaks for itself: CAP joint-secretary (2019-22); PPL franchise coach; South Zone’s Duleep Trophy 2025-26 assistant coach; CAP U19 men’s coach. His younger brother Karthikeyan became the CAP secretary in September 2025.
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“We are only following the procedures under the BCCI in terms of eligibility. How is the state association responsible for cross-verifying Government-issued documents like Aadhaar and PAN submitted by a player? We forward all the documents to the BCCI for cross-verification,” he said.
Venkatraman also runs Jagath Academy, a private cricket coaching centre that has faced allegations by former players for fast-tracking players from other states to CAP squads. Denying the allegation, Venkatraman said, “Pondicherry is an education-based city. Quality inventory among locals is low, so we pick players who perform well, irrespective of background.”
According to Senthil Kumaran, founder of the Bharathidasan Pondicherry Cricketers’ Forum, “The one-year eligibility criteria is the primary source of all problems in Pondicherry cricket, and I have raised it several times in emails to the BCCI.” The forum was formed by former local players to “bring an official channel to raise complaints against the CAP to the BCCI”.
Kumaran urged the BCCI to adopt a structure similar to that of Vidarbha, the Ranji Trophy champions. Framing their own eligibility criteria in 2005, in addition to the BCCI norms, the Vidarbha Cricket Association mandated three years of educational or playing record with affiliated clubs as mandatory to be listed as local players.
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How BCCI rules are subverted: A tale of 5 addresses
According to the BCCI, an outstation cricketer qualifies as a local with proof of a year’s employment in the region governed by the state association, or of an educational course from the previous calendar year leading up to a new season, along with residential evidence for at least one year.
The Indian Express investigated five residential addresses and three educational institutions that featured frequently in CAP’s player registration forms.
* Mothilal Nagar, Moolakulam: On paper, this two-storey house is the residence of 17 cricketers from eight states. Six of them are among Pondicherry’s 2025-26 senior team players; seven others appeared in the 2025 Pondicherry Premier League (PPL) in July; three played their last games for CAP in September 2024, and the other plays club cricket in England. According to records, the latest entrant is a U-23 player from Jagath Academy.
The homeowner said she had leased a portion of the residence to four cricketers “a few years ago”. “They were evicted for not paying rental dues, and we had to approach the CAP, which had brought them here. We are unaware of 11 players using our address,” said the owner.
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* Tsunami Nagar, Narambai: This address in a tsunami rehabilitation colony features on the registration record of a 16-year-old Delhi player. Registering the address in 2023, the player turned up at Jagath Academy in 2024 before emerging as one of Puducherry’s highest run-scorers in the 2024-25 Vijay Merchant Trophy.
The homeowner’s son said the player never stayed at this residence. “On September 28, this boy came and requested a picture with me in front of the house. I was uncertain and asked why. But even before I got a proper response, they clicked a photo. He also asked me to say, if anyone came looking, that he had been staying here for a year,” the homeowner’s wife said.
(Left) The house in Moolakulam is found on the records of at least 17 CAP cricketers. (Right) The three-storey building in the MG Road Area is found on the records of six CAP cricketers. (Express Photo by Lalith Kalidas)
* Nainar Mandapam: This address features on the records of four outstation cricketers from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. The homeowner denied having rented or leased out the premises to these cricketers. Records also show that these three players appeared in matches for CAP from February 2025 — the same month they registered with the association.
* Rue Romain Rolland: This address in White Town is listed since 2019 on the Aadhaar records of a bowler who recently attended trials with an IPL franchise. The caretaker of the premises said he did not recollect ever having met the player. The homeowner, Ashwin, said: “I bought this house three years ago from a relative, and I have no idea who this person (player) is. This apartment has been locked since 2022. My family and I live elsewhere in the city.”
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* MG Road area: Six cricketers, including a former IPL player, share the address of this three-storeyed house. On the ground floor is a kidney-care facility. Five of the players — from Karnataka, Haryana, Telangana and UP — continue to be a part of Puducherry cricket across formats.
The home-owner Praveen P, residing on the first floor, is a qualified umpire, a BCCI-accredited video analyst and a part of Jagath Academy. When contacted, Praveen said he had “no idea” that players currently playing for CAP teams were using his residence address. He said he had lodged two players earlier. “They vacated one year ago. They were there for almost three to four years,” he said.
The Sri Vivekananda ITI institute in Nellithope, which has shifted operations under the Ramachandra Paramedical Science College in Villianur. (Express Photo by Lalith Kalidas)
Tin sheets, missing students
Underpinning these addresses is another layer: the local educational courses that players pursue as per records. Records show at least 28 cricketers from other states have enrolled in various “ITI courses” in Pondicherry over the past three years.
* When The Indian Express reached Sri Vivekananda ITI in Nellithope, listed as an institute on the records of several players, it found an old, rusted tin-roofed structure where the institution operated till it shut down in 2021. The ITI’s name has since been listed under Ramachandra Paramedical Science College in Villianur.
At least two cricketers hailing from Haryana have been shown in records as pursuing a wireman course in Ramachandra College. The college principal was not available for comment. When contacted, one of the two players said he had returned home after featuring in the PPL 2025 season.
* The records of a UP-born U23 cricketer led to a private tuition centre for schoolchildren. “A local person came [in 2020] on behalf of them and completed the registration process. I had asked the student to come in person, but I was told he was in a different state. We are just mediators for them to write their distance learning examinations,” said a teacher at the centre.
* A hotel management institute was also listed on several player records. The institute declined to comment.