The former India pacer, Ajit Agarkar has been named as the Chairman of the Men’s Selection Committee. The BCCI announced the development through an Official Statement. Notably, the place was vacant since Chetan Sharma resigned from the position in February following a sting operation conducted by a leading news agency. Ajit Agarkar has interviewed for the vacant position in the committee & the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Sulakshana Naik, Jatin Paranjape, and Ashok Malhotra has recommended him to lead the selection panel.
What were BCCI’s Criteria for a Person to be eligible for the Post of Chief Selector?
As per BCCI’s notification inviting applications for the position of Chairman of Men’s Selection Committee, the applicant should have played at least seven Tests or 30 first-class fixtures of 10 ODIs & 20 First class matches to be eligible for the post. Further, he should have retired from the game at least five years prior. And the newly appointed Chairman fits all the criteria mentioned by the BCCI. He has represented India in 26 Tests, 191 ODIs, and four T20Is along with 110 first-class matches, apart from 270 List A games and 62 T20.
During his playing tenure, Agarkar has scripted his name in history by scalping the fastest 50 ODI wickets. He has achieved this feat in 23 fixtures while he still has the record for scoring the fastest fifty in ODIs for India i.e. in just 21 balls against Zimbabwe in 2000. After his retirement, Agarkar has served as the Chief Selector of Mumbai’s senior Mumbai team while he has also been a part of the Delhi Capitals Coaching team in the IPL.
Agarkar’s first assignment will be to choose India’s T20Is squad for the West Indies tour. While the Test & ODI teams have been zeroed down by the selection committee led by Interim Chairman Shiv Sundar Das.
Men’s Selection Committee:
Ajit Agarkar (Chairman), Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Salil Ankola, Sridharan Sharath.
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