Age problem not new in India

Aakash Chopra says in the Hindustan Times that Indian cricketers have been fudging their ages since the time he was playing. The problem he says is too much importance is attached to age-level cricket, prompting players to want to spend an extra year or two playing at Under-19 level.

I distinctly remember an under-16 match against Punjab in which one of the bowlers had a fully-grown beard. The player went on to play for India and that's when I got to know that he was four years younger to me, which means that he was only 12 when I played against him in that under-16 match. Is it biologically possible to grow a beard at that age?