File image of Ajit Agarkar©Twitter
The appointment of former India pacemaker Ajit Agarkar as chairman of the senior selection committee appears to be just a formality after appearing on Tuesday for a virtual interview with the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) chaired by Ashok Malhotra. It is clear that BCCI wants to complete the formality of the appointment as Agarkar will chair the meeting of the selection committee for the T20I squad that will play five matches in the West Indies after the takeover. “Agarkar is the only candidate who appeared for an interview. It was a virtual one as he is currently abroad for a family vacation,” a BCCI source told PTI.
According to sources, there is no significant North Zone name big enough to take over the coveted post.
That is why BCCI breaks with the age-old convention of appointing one selector from each of the five zones.
Agarkar’s appointment means West Zone will have two selectors, with Salil Ankola as the other. The others are Subroto Banerjee from Central Zone, S Sharath from South and SS Das from East.
Agarkar has played 191 ODIs apart from 26 Tests and 4 T20Is. He was a member of the 1999, 2003 and 2007 ODI World Cup squad and was also a member of the 2007 World T20 winning Indian team.
He has a Test hundred at Lord’s and was instrumental in India’s Test win over Australia, in 2004, with a six-wicket haul in Adelaide’s match.
Agarkar gets a good salary as BCCI has promised to increase the chief voter’s annual salary.
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