Most capped Test cricketer will be chief selector of India- Ganguly
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||CF Correspondent ||
The Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly said next chairman of selection panel will be someone with the most capped Test cricketer and not the earliest to have played for India.
BCCI on Friday appointed a three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising former cricketers Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik.
The CAC will conduct interviews to fill the two vacancies in the national selection committee. Current chief selector MSK Prasad’s term expired last September but has been asked to continue till the process of finding his replacement is complete. Gagan Khoda is the other outgoing selector.
In a significant clarification with regards to next chairman of selectors, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly told Hindustan Times that in a committee of five, the most capped Test cricketer, and not the earliest to have played for India, would be the chairman. “It will be the one with the most Tests,” Ganguly was quoted in Hindustan Times.
There has been some confusion since a specific clause of the BCCI constitution says ‘the senior most Test cap from among the members of the committee shall be appointed the chairman’. A number of ex-cricketers like Ajit Agarkar, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Venkatesh Prasad, Rajesh Chauhan, Nayan Mongia, Chetan Chauhan, Nikhil Chopra, Abey Kuruvilla have applied.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly commented on new selection committee. Ganguly confirmed that BJP MP Gautam Gambhir is out as selector. Ganguly confirmed Sulakshana Naik and Madan Lal's presence in committee.
If Sivaramakrishnan, with nine Test caps, was shortlisted, would he become an automatic choice, as he is the ‘senior most’, having debuted for India in 1983? Ganguly’s clarification however means Prasad (33 Tests) and Agarkar (26 Tests) stand an equal chance if shortlisted. Prasad has already served in the junior selection committee for a one-and-a-half year and there is a legal view that he is not eligible to serve a full four-year term as per the constitution.
