Ajit Agarkar named India men's chairman of selectors

Mumbai, July 4:  Former India and Mumbai pacer Ajit Agarkar was on Tuesday named as the chairman of the India senior men's national selection committee.

The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), consisting of Sulakshana Naik, Ashok Malhotra, and Jatin Paranjape, interviewed applicants for the one vacant position of selector in the men's selection Committee and unanimously recommended Agarkar for the said position.

According to a BCCI media release, the three-member committee further recommended the 45-year-old Agarkar for the role of Chairperson of the men's selection committee based on seniority (total number of Test matches -- 26).

Notably, the chief selector's post was vacant since Chetan Sharma resigned in February in the wake of a sting operation conducted on him by an Indian television network.

With this, Agarkar became the fifth member of the India men's selection panel which already includes Shiv Sunder Das, Salil Ankola, Subroto Banerjee and S. Sharath.

Agarkar's appointment results in the panel having two selectors from West Zone, Ankola being the other one. In the BCCI constitution, drafted as per the RM Lodha-committee recommendations, there is no mention of selectors being appointed on a zonal basis, which has been a convention so far.

As per the recommendation of the CAC, the five selectors should have been retired for at least five years and played a certain number of matches. However, BCCI has followed an unwritten rule of picking a selector from each of the five zones traditionally.

Though, the BCCI notification inviting applications for the fifth selector had not specified that it was looking for a candidate from a specific zone and it could not be confirmed as well whether Agarkar was the solitary applicant for the position.

Agarkar's first assignment will be to select the T20I squad for the tour of the West Indies, with the Test and ODI teams already selected by the panel led by interim chairman Shiv Sundar Das.

The former India all-rounder represented the country in 26 Tests, 191 ODIs, and four T20Is, in addition to playing 110 first-class, 270 List A, and 62 T20 matches. As a former fast bowler, he was part of India's victorious squad in the inaugural T20 World Cup held in South Africa in 2007.

He still holds the record for the fastest half-century by an Indian batter in ODI, achieved with a 21-ball fifty against Zimbabwe in 2000. The right-arm pacer also held the record for being the fastest to reach 50 ODI wickets for nearly a decade, accomplishing the milestone in just 23 matches.

Following his playing career, he was appointed as the Chief Selector for the senior Mumbai team and undertook coaching responsibilities with the Delhi Capitals.