While every possible career statistic is tabulated for prominent cricketers, there are sometimes ambiguities in their place of birth.
We start with Wriddhiman Saha (who spells his first name in an unusual way). Where was he born? Cricinfo gives this:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/wriddhiman-saha-279810
This says that he was born in Saktigarh in West Bengal.
Most people who travel a bit will know of this Saktigarh:
This is a little east of Barddhaman and is on the main line from Kolkata to northern India.
However, if we look at his Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wriddhiman_Saha
his birthplace is given as Siliguri in West Bengal. But there is no contradiction, as there is a lesser-known Saktigarh which is close to Siliguri. While it does not have a railway station, here is proof of its existence:
The cases of Mohammad Shami is more interesting.
First we see his cricinfo profile:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/mohammed-shami-481896
Here it is mentioned that his birthplace is Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. This is near Moradabad on the road to Delhi. Wikipedia also gives the same birthplace.
He started his cricketing career in Bengal and the Kolkata Knight Riders.
At that time, all the references mentioned his birthplace as “Jonagar, Bengal”.
There is no town in Bengal with this spelling. However, someone pointed out that this may have meant Joynagar, an outer suburb of Kolkata best known for the sweet “Joynagar er Moa”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaynagarer_Moa
This place is served by this station, on the suburban line to Lakshmikantpur and Namkhana:
Even today some references like the Playfair Annual of 2022 still show his birthplace as “Jonagar, Bengal”.
While Mr Shami is one of the key members of India’s current team, he could not have possibly been born in two different places over a thousand km apart. Presumably someone connected with the Bengal cricket association (perhaps with the connivance of KKR) produced some document to show that he was born in Bengal.
If I am wrong, then why is his birthplace now listed in UP? Strange that none of the large tribe of cricket journalists commented on his moving birthplace.
abn397 