Run out by the age factor

But while the two Singhs are in their first week at Adelaide, Pujara is cooling his heels at home in Rajkot.

The reason: Griffith doesn’t allow campus residents below 18, a fact which either didn’t occur to, or was kept from, officials at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, which picks the boys every year.

After being handed his tickets and money by the NCA, Pujara eventually found out he wasn’t going four days ago.

Sources in Cricket Australia say that the National Cricket Academy was informed about this age restriction well in advance, though events in Bangalore don’t seem to suggest that.

NCA director Brijesh Patel insists that they got the letter from Adelaide just four days ago.

‘‘When we selected Cheteswar we were not aware of this rule. We came to know about it at the last minute,’’ says Patel.

Pujara could still have gone with a chaperone, but Patel says the NCA — part of the multi-crore BCCI — doesn’t have the funds.

‘‘It’s a misunderstanding’’, says CoE head coach Tim Nielsen. ‘‘It’s because the CoE moved recently from Brisbane to Adelaide, where the age rules are different. We thought that NCA knew about these rules.’’

The rule, says Michael Jeh, sports initiative officer at Griffith, ‘‘is because of the co-ed atmosphere and bars around here.’’

There is also the larger picture, which is that henceforth those sent on the scholarship must be above 18. Putting it in perspective, Parthiv Patel was 16 when he won it in 2001.

Meanwhile, Pujara must be wondering how he can pull off another great season to have a chance of getting the scholarship next year.

He scored an aggregate of 1091 runs at an average of 100-plus, with 206 not out and 136 in the four under-22 games he played and 211 in the only u-19 ‘Test’ he played against England.