Two former Indian cricketers, left-arm seamer RP Singh and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, are among the strongest members to have applied for the vacant slots in the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee.
The Indian cricket board is to witness some changes in its administration from the upcoming season. Several new faces might soon be seen within the BCCI selector panel, as the likes of Subroto Banerjee and S Sharath, the two former selectors, stepped down from their positions.
The committee is currently led by the former Indian speedster Ajit Agarkar, whose contract has been further extended. While these new appointments shall be made around the Annual General Meeting of the board, if it is held on the 28th of September.
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Pragyan Ojha and RP Singh apply for the role of National selectors
Two former Indian cricketers, Pragyan Ojha and Rudra Pratap Singh, popularly known as RP Singh, have been tipped to become the new members of the Ajit Agarkar-led Indian senior selection committee.
For the two vacant positions, the BCCI had called for applications last month. As learned through the Indian Express, the board has received a lukewarm response from well-known former international cricketers.
The former Indian skipper Praveen Kumar was the only known figure to have applied for the role of national selector. Apart from him, two others who also applied were former UP pacer Ashish Winston Zaidi and Himachal Pradesh’s Shakti Singh.
Criteria laid by the BCCI for the position of selector
As per the requisitions of the Indian board, the applicant should have played a minimum of seven Test matches or 30 First-Class matches or 10 ODIs, and 20 First-Class Matches. Alongside these, the applicant should have retired from the game at least 5 years prior to the time of application.
RP Singh announced his retirement back in 2018, while Pragyan Ojha announced his retirement back in February 2020. Another major criterion to be met was that the applicant must not have been a member of any cricket committee of the BCCI for a cumulative period of five years.
Following all these criteria, former Indian cricketer RP Singh, who played 14 Tests, 58 ODIs and 10 T20Is for India from 2005-11, and Pragyan Ojha, who featured in 24 Tests, 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is for India, seem the most ideal picks.
CAC to interview the candidates and choose the BCCI office-bearers
As per the procedure, the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjpe, and Sulakshna Naik, has been handed the responsibility to shortlist the candidates for the two posts in the senior men’s selection committee.
They will be interviewing them and shortlisting the two most suitable candidates from the wide pool of applicants. The CAC will then be recommending the names of the candidates chosen to the BCCI office-bearers, who would then go on to approve the CAC’s recommendation.
These two new selectors are expected to take charge from next month.
