The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), chaired by Madan Lal, will interview candidates virtually on Thursday to fill three vacancies on the Senior Selection Committee. Former fast bowler Ajit Agarkar is the front runner in picking the berth of the selector from the West Zone. As the fullest test cricketer (26 Tests and 191 ODIs), he could be the next chairman of the panel.
According to the new BCCI constitution, the candidate with the most test caps becomes the main voter. Sunil Joshi is currently the chairman and has played 15 tests. Harvinder Singh is the other selector from the Central Zone. Aside from Agarkar, Abey Kuruvilla and Nayan Mongia from the west have applied. Chetan Sharma, Maninder Singh, Vijay Dahiya, Ajay Ratra and Nikhil Chopra from the north zone and Shiv Sunder Das, Debashish Mohanty and Ranadeb Bose from the east applied.
A total of 11 candidates were shortlisted.
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BCCI has decided to keep the zonal criteria for the composition of the selection committee. Jatin Paranjpe (West Zone), Devang Gandhi (East) and Sarandeep Singh (North) have completed their terms. Once appointed, the committee’s next task will be to select India’s team for the home series against England.
Thursday’s BCCI AGM could get stormy if members feel uncomfortable about President Sourav Ganguly’s branding, some of which are in direct competition with the board of directors. With no objection from the sponsors of BCCI, the question before Ganguly may not be legal, but ethical.
Former Indian captain Ganguly was on familiar turf on Wednesday, leading a team of board members in a friendly at the newly renovated Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad. The board members were unwilling to undertake whether questions about Ganguly would be asked at the meeting. “If someone brings the issue up at the meeting, Ganguly has a line of defense,” said a government unit official close to the president.
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Apart from that, the selection will be ratified by three bodies: a BCCI Vice President and two members of the IPL Governing Council. Rajiv Shukla will return as Vice President and Brijesh Patel will continue to serve as IPL Chair. The BCCI players’ association has appointed the former weirdo Pragyan Ojha to succeed Surinder Khanna as a representative on the government council.
Also on the agenda is the “Admission of 2 (two) new teams to the Indian Premier League”. The proposal is likely to be adopted unanimously, paving the way for a major IPL.