Former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar has applied for the national selector’s post of senior Indian men’s cricket team. He can be the chairman of this national selection committee.
On 18th January, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited for the applications of national selectors’ posts of senior men’s team (two posts), senior women’s team (five posts) and junior men’s team (two posts). Friday (24th January) is the last day to apply for this post.
Already, former Indian cricketers like Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Rajesh Chauhan, Amey Khurasiya, Nayan Mongia, Chetan Sharma etc. have applied for this role. Now, according to the PTI report, the former Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar has applied for this post.
The 42-year-old Ajit Agarkar served for the Indian national cricket team from 1998 to 2007. He played 26 Tests, 191 ODIs and four T20Is. Agarkar is still India’s third most ODI wicket-taker as he took 288 wickets in ODI career. He also took 58 Test and three T20I wickets.
Apart from a team member in 1999, 2003 and 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, Ajit Agarkar was also a member of the inaugural ICC World T20-winning team (2007). In the ICC World T20 2007, Agarkar managed to pick up one wicket in two innings (three matches).
Ajit Agarkar was also the chairman of Mumbai senior selection committee. According to the PTI report, the senior-most Test cap holder will be awarded for the chairman role of the national selection committee. Agarkar has a good chance to take the chief post.
A senior BCCI official said according to PTI, “Ajit entering the fray is an interesting development. He is someone who would have put in a lot of thought before applying. If anyone thought that Siva’s nomination as a chairman of selectors is a given will now think again. It will be every interesting to see who all are short-listed.”
Ajit Agarkar can replace the present chairman MSK Prasad
Among the current five-member national selection committee (senior men), chairman MSK Prasad (South Zone) and Gagan Khoda (Central Zone) are very close to ending their term soon. Sarandeep Singh (North Zone), Jatin Paranjpe (West Zone) and Devang Gandhi (East Zone) are the other three members in this selection committee who can stay in this committee for another season.
Though Jatin Paranjpe is from Mumbai, the BCCI has no problem to elect another selector from Mumbai. So, Agarkar has the chance to make a strong fight for this role.
The official added, “The BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on the first day had spoken about transparency. If the intent is correct and the heart is in right place, why do we need to have zonal biases and follow the convention?”