Mumbai, Sep 18 (IANS) : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office bearers have been authorised to take a call on all things related to the men’s selection committees and offered no clarity on the future of chief selector Ajit Agarkar during its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Friday.
The development comes amid rising uncertainty over Agarkar’s position as the chairman of the senior men’s selection committee. Agarkar’s contract runs till October 2026 and it’s yet to be known if it will be extended till next year’s ODI World Cup, to be played in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.
Apart from this, IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal and Khairul Jamal Majumdar have been re-elected unopposed to the IPL Governing Council. “Today’s meeting went well, everything went well. The same people are repeated in the IPL Governing Council – Arun Dhumal and Mamon.
“Regarding the selectors (in both senior and junior men’s committees), an authorisation has been taken and we will decide about the selectors later,” Shukla said to reporters after the AGM ended at the BCCI headquarters.
If Agarkar doesn’t continue, the BCCI will have to follow the standard procedure, which involves inviting applications through a public advertisement and conducting candidate interviews.
It is understood that former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel, currently the assistant coach at Gujarat Titans in the IPL and ventured into commentary duties, has emerged as a potential contender to take Agarkar’s spot in the panel if the BCCI office bearers decide to bring in a change in the panel.
The murmurs of Patel coming into an influential role in the selection committee have been in on and off mode since March, but with him already past 5 years of retiring actively from the game, he can be a potential contender to replace Agarkar.
Agarkar, who missed a high-profile review meeting on September 3 due to him being at a place where internet wasn’t available, had attended the recent Afghanistan-India T20I games at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, alongside his selection committee colleagues RP Singh and Ajay Ratra.
In the second game held on Tuesday, Shukla along with ICC Chairman Jay Shah and BCCI President Mithun Manhas were present in the stadium alongside Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) officials.
Asked about potential venue change for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Ranchi, Shukla clarified that no such deliberations took place during the meeting. “No, there was no discussion about the venue for that Test match. There were some fixtures. Out of them, the fixtures which were of 50 overs, it is now done of 20 overs,” added Shukla.
One of the agendas at the AGM was the inclusion of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the BCCI fold, but it is understood that their bid for affiliate membership is deferred because of legal issues. Domestic umpires, match referees, and scorers are in line for a significant pay raise, with the BCCI likely to form a three-member committee to finalise the fee structure.
