New selectors to be appointed by early March: CAC
NEW DELHI: Newly-appointed Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) member Madan Lal believes that the Indian team could get its new chief selector early next month. The CAC comprising of Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik have been assigned to pick two new selectors as MSK Prasad and Gagan Khoda have finished their tenures.
Lal said while there isn’t any fixed date as to when the announcement of the two new selectors will be made, the former all-rounder expects the process to finish by March first week. “We have got the list, we will now shortlist the candidates. The three of us will compare our lists after that and decide who all to call for the final round of interviews. We should be out with the new selectors by March first week.”
The CAC will have to finish the process as the new selectors need to sit down and pick the squad for the ODI series against South Africa which starts on March 12. They may finish the process before the New Zealand series ends.
Lal, who refused to commit a date and number of applicants to be called, said, “We have received a list of 44 applicants. Out of that, how many applicants we will call for the interview has not yet been decided.
“There are big names in the list but it is not about that. It is about picking the right man for the job and that will be our focus. Also there is no word yet from BCCI on whether to continue with zonal policy or not,” Lal said.
Asked if the trio has held any meeting so far in the matter, Lal said that they have just received the list of applicants and no meeting has taken place after that. Though no intimation has been given to them, they could meet this week or next to conduct the interviews for the two posts in the senior committee and the junior committee.
Former pacer Ajit Agarkar and Venkatesh Prasad as well as Laxman Sivaramakrishnan are the names that are most likely to battle it out for the post of chief selector left vacant by MSK Prasad. While the rule says that the ‘the seniormost Test cap from among the members of the committee shall be appointed the chairman’, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has made it clear that the most capped Test cricketer would be the one heading the team of selectors. “It will be the one with the most Tests,” he had said.
EXPERIENCE COUNTS
If that is the case, former India spinner Maninder Singh (35 Tests) could pip everyone,, including Agarkar (26 Tests ) and Sivaramakrishnan (9 Tests) to the post. Nayan Mongia too is in the fray though it is learnt he has applied for the post of chief junior selector. However, the seniority could change if ODIS and T20s played are considered.
Among others reportedly in the reckoning are Chetan Sharma, Dodda Ganesh, Sanjeev Sharma, Rajesh Chauhan and Amay Khurasia.
If Maninder or Agarkar are picked that will mean two selectors from the West ornorth (with Jatin Paranjpe and Sarandeep Singh already there in the panel) and Central Zone would go unrepresented because Khoda represented the zone.
The selectors who will continue are Sarandeep (North), Devang Gandhi (East) and Paranjpe (West).
However, the Board has done away with the zonal system of selectors. Ganguly had said on Sunday, “There won’t be any zonal representation in the national selection committee. You can have two or even three from one zone.”