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Do you want to become a cricketer in India? I have a secret tip for you. If you’re born in September, October, November, or December, you’re in luck. Unfortunately, if you’re not born in any of these months, it might be tough. Perhaps consider timing the birth of your child for one of these months. You might be wondering how being born in these months increases the chances of becoming a cricketer. While it won’t guarantee a cricket career, the likelihood of your child becoming a cricketer is statistically higher compared to those born in August. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at this table of Indian cricketers along with their dates of birth.

Table: Indian Cricketers with central contract for the year 2022-23

#	Player	DOB		#	Player	DOB
1	Rohit Sharma	30-04-1987		14	Shubman Gill	08-09-1999
2	Virat Kohli	05-11-1988		15	Mohammed Siraj	13-03-1994
3	Jasprit Bumrah	06-12-1993		16	Umesh Yadav	25-10-1987
4	Ravindra Jadeja	06-12-1988		17	Shikhar Dhawan	05-12-1985
5	Hardik Pandya	11-10-1993		18	Shardul Thakur	16-10-1991
6	Akshar Patel	20-01-1994		19	Ishan Kishan	01-11-1995
7	Ravichandran Ashwin	17-09-1986		20	Deepak Hooda	19-04-1995
8	Mohammad Shami	03-09-1990		21	Yuzvendra Chahal	23-07-1990
9	Rishabh Pant	04-10-1997		22	Kuldeep Yadav	14-12-1994
10	Cheteshwar Pujara	25-01-1988		23	Washington Sundar	05-10-1999
11	KL Rahul	18-04-1992		24	Sanju Samson	11-11-1994
12	Shreyas Iyer	06-12-1994		25	Arshdeep Singh	05-02-1999
13	Suryakumar Yadav	14-09-1990		26	KS Bharat.	03-10-1993

Ok, it might be hard to count months. Here is the same data but the players grouped by their birth month.

Now, you must surely see what I am talking about: the majority of players are born between September and December. To put that in numbers, 18 out of 26 players are born in these four months, making up a staggering 69.23%. Nearly 70% of players are born within just four out of twelve months. This presents a significantly lopsided distribution. This pattern isn’t a one-off occurrence; there is concrete reasoning behind this trend.

The Relative Age Effect

Allow me to explain this phenomenon using the example of two players, Alok and Sanjay. Alok was born on September 1st, 2009, while Sanjay’s birthdate falls on August 10th, 2010. As I mentioned earlier, Alok stands a considerably better chance of making it as a cricketer for the country compared to Sanjay, and it all boils down to the crucial date of the age cutoff in Indian Cricket.

In the majority of cricket associations, including under 14, 16, and 19 leagues, as well as cricket competitions, the age cutoff date is fixed on the 1st of September. The same date applies to ICC under 14 and under 19 leagues, where it is specified that “the player must be under 19 years of age on 1st September.” This age cutoff introduces a certain disparity in the ages of players.

In this scenario, during an under 14 league match held in August, Alok would be 13 years and 11 months old, whereas Sanjay would be 12 years and 11 months. This seemingly minor one-year age gap places them within the same league. However, the coaches and selectors may not be fully aware of this discrepancy and its consequential impact. Though a year may not appear substantial, especially at the age of 14, it can significantly influence performance. Subpar performance by the younger player can eventually lead to them being overlooked for selections. Consequently, selected players who receive fewer opportunities to play also gain less experience and exposure on the field.

Alok won’t get the chance to be a senior player in this league at all. By the following year, he will miss the opportunity to participate in the under 14 category simply because he is one month older than 14. In the subsequent league, under 16, he will likely find himself younger than most players once again.

This phenomenon is referred to as the Relative Age Effect, a widely acknowledged occurrence. I was taken aback when I stumbled upon this effect in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers. My curiosity led me to ponder whether this would impact cricket in any discernible way. As it turns out, the influence is more pronounced than I initially anticipated. To emphasize this point and underscore that it’s not an isolated case, here is a chart displaying the frequency of birth months among all ODI players who have represented India.

Technically the effect also favours the Jan and Feb born players as well, which is reflected in the chart above.

How does the future look?

I looked at the MCA - Mumbai Cricket Association player lists of under 14, 16, 19, 25 and Ranji. Here are the corresponding charts for the same.

Except for under 16, all the other charts prove the effect. I am not sure why it didn’t since rest do. MCA is one of the best and richest association in India. The fact that its players birth months are skewed is not good sign of fair chance for all the future players.

What about other country teams??

Other countries have done comparatively well in this regard. Here are the charts for Australia, New Zealand, England and Pakistan.

From what I could find, the age cut off for these countries is also on 1st September. Yet the data is not very skewed like India’s.

Conclusion

Due to date based age cut off, the Indian Cricket scene is favouring the players born close to the cut off tremendously. While the other countries seem to have some handle on the issue. How do you think India can solve this problem? Feel Free to let me know.

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