Gourav Mukhi scored Jamshedpur FC’s first equaliser on Sunday night against hosts Bengaluru FC in a thrilling contest. The Indian Super League (ISL) twitter handle and the commentators on TV said that Gourav, at 16, was the league’s youngest goal-scorer.
When his team needed him the most, Gourav Mukhi came off the bench on his debut to draw @JamshedpurFC level👏👏👏#BENJAM #LetsFootball #FanBannaPadega pic.twitter.com/TvmfEIZLAc
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) October 8, 2018
Gourav, who sports a handlebar moustache that he twirls often, has a physical build that isn’t typical of a 16-year-old.
There have also been reports from 2015 of him being part of the Jharkhand team that was suspended by the All India Football Federation for age fraud.
The report alleges Gourav and four others submitted false birth certificates while playing for Jharkhand in the Coca Cola Cup in 2014-15.
Once he scored the goal in a thrilling finish, there was plenty of debate on Twitter over the age of the forward hailing from Jamshedpur and a debate on age fraud in Indian football, in general.
THREAD: On Gourav Mukhi, the champion 16-year-old forward who plays for ISL franchise @JamshedpurFC and who scored against @bengalurufc today in the 2-2 draw. He becomes ISL's younger ever goalscorer (which, of course, will be repeated once every 17 mins on avg. the rest of ISL). pic.twitter.com/dyppvWJw2Z
— Akarsh Sharma (@Akarsh_Official) October 7, 2018
Is it true?? Gaurav mukhi was over aged in a u-15 tournament in 2015 and in 2018 he is still 16...what do you think @fni @MallikarjunaNH @MarcusMergulhao ... horrible if it turns out to be true🙁🙁 pic.twitter.com/ttIGJE7cNm
— Shri kant (@sk_yati1999) October 7, 2018
Gaurav Mukhi to his 19 year old son:
— Dhruv (@just_dhruv_it) October 8, 2018
"When I was of your age I was 16"#ISL2018 #stayyourage
How can India avoid cases like Gourav Mukhi? If he was truly 16, surely he should have played in the recently held AFC U-16 Asian Cup? Also, he has tattoos. How anyone thinks he's 16 is beyond me
— Spandan Roy (@SpandanRoy17) October 8, 2018
Think we should start a thread 😆
— Uday Akasapu (@Yardbirdie) October 8, 2018
You tweet your 16 yr old photo and tag a person to tweet his photo when he was 16 and ask him to tag another person and the chain goes on
And the thread to end with 16 year old Gaurav Mukhi
Hashtag for the campaign?
Imagine what 16 year old Gaurav Mukhi can do when he turns 32 in three years.. sorry 19 in 3 years.. Sure Balon d'Or nominee. 🏆 https://t.co/jBidMWhWyC
— Vinod Ramnath (@NaanumEngineer) October 8, 2018
All these people who are making a big deal out of Gaurav Mukhi's age need to calm down. You all first need to understand that he was already 12 when he was born. 12+16=28. Your argument is invalid. #BENJAM #HeroISL @fni
— Waseem Ahmed (@Waseem_Ahmed11) October 8, 2018
There are hundreds like him and many go on to have pretty alright careers in India. The extent of age-cheating in India is honestly staggering! There's no point targeting one player when you don't question why administrators continue to aid and abet age cheats.
— Bhargab Sarmah (@BhargabSarmah) October 7, 2018
Does no one realise if Gourav Mukhi was actually 16 years old, he should have played for India in the recently held AFC U-16 Asian Cup. He is clearly wayyyy older, there is also a Hindustan Times article claiming he's 28 years old. Jamshedpur FC is a diagrace
— Spandan Roy (@SpandanRoy17) October 8, 2018
Gaurav Mukhi is 16 years old?! He looks at least 16 years older than Jerry Mawihmingthanga. #BENJAM
— Boring Blaster (@boringblaster) October 7, 2018
Meanwhile, Wikipedia on Gourav Mukhi 😆 -->#BENJAM #HeroISL #IndianFootball@fni @Akarsh_Official @visheprasad @ArkaTweets10 pic.twitter.com/0YzG99YosN
— Aravind S (@arvisusi) October 8, 2018
